Eparchial Schools

secondary educational institutions for girls, set up in Russia under the Charter of 1843. The schools, primarily for the daughters of priests, were maintained on funds obtained from such sources as collections from churches and subscriptions from candleworks, and they were under the jurisdiction of the Synod. Tuition was free for the daughters of priests but was charged for girls from other social classes. The curriculum covered six grades and resembled that of the girls’ Gymnasiums. Among the nonrequired subjects, offered for a special fee and in non-school hours, were modern languages, music, and drawing.

Eparchial school graduates were certified as private teachers of subjects in which they had scored well in school and were taken on as teachers in elementary schools, mostly rural ones (and from 1884 in parish schools). In 1900 special seventh grades for teacher training were introduced at the eparchial schools. Some of these schools had elementary schools attached to them in which seniors did their practice teaching.

The eparchial schools were abolished by a decree of the Sovnarkom (Council of People’s Commissars) of Dec. 24, 1917.