EDUCATION

On February 13, 1793, the city of Verkhneudinsk (currently Ulan-Ude) witnessed the opening of the first minor public school. This event marked the beginning of secular education in Buryatia, ranging from 8-year schools to universities and academies. In the year when Buryatia became a republic (1923) in Ulan-Ude there were 12 public schools of general education with 2,100  students. By 1937 the number of schools in the republic had reached 170, with 31,450 students, and there were also 25 boarding schools for 2,800 students. In April 1934 the first Teachers' Training and Professional Development Institute opened in Ulan-Ude.

Today, over 89 000 children are being educated in 193 educational institutions in Buryatia. 10,300 teachers are employed in the sphere of education, of whom 112 have received the honorary title of "Distinguished Teacher" of the Russian Federation and Republic of Buryatia, 696 have the award "For Excellent Work in the Sphere of Public Education," 132 individuals have been awarded orders and medals. 25 schools have created classes with gymnasia/lyceum-type education. 14,500 children are involved in this kind of advanced education. 4,000 students go to sports schools, where 19 kinds of sports are played.

In the republic there are 605 schools, of which 456 are located in rural areas, and 148 - in cities and towns.  112 schools offer advanced courses in different subjects, 8 schools have the status of "gymnasia," and another 8 - the status of "lyceum." In 1998, public schools of Buryatia were educating 193,944 students and were employing 14,415 teaching staff members.

In 1923 in Ulan-Ude there were only two Pedagogical Colleges, whereas today one can choose among 16 vocational and technical schools. In 1932, the first insitute opened in the republic; it was a pedagogical institute named after the first Buryat scholar D. Banzarov. It was followed by Agricultural Institute (1935), East-Siberian Culture Institute in 1960, and East Siberian Technological Institute in 1962.

At this moment, there are 4 institutions of higher education in Buryatia, where 20,500 students are pursuing a degree. 9% of students study on the contract (paid) basis. In 1998, the size of the graduating class was  3,200. Local universities/academies employ 1,800 teaching staff members, including 97 Doctor's Degree holders and 773 professors holding Master's Degrees.  

The republic possesses a network of general education institutions that unites over 1000 institutions differing in types and organizational and official status. This number includes 618 schools with approximately 200,000 students, 112 institutions of supplementary education, etc. They provide accessible free education guaranteed by the law. There are more than 20 advanced-level educational institutions, such as lycea, gymnasiae, colleges-type schools. The number of schools and classes offering advanced placement courses is steadily growing. Over 100 educational institutions are working in the "innovative mode." In accordance with the law on general public education, schools have acquired judicial and financial independence, as well as  the right to choose their own education plans and programs. Over the past several years a number of social-pedagogical complexes (SPC) were created, each incorporating school, kindergarten, institution of culture, and farming household in one integrated system. Thus today, under the current socioeconomic conditions, rural schools assume the functions of social, cultural, educational, and health centers.

The ethnic culture of more than 100 ethnic groups living in the Republic influences  the process of educational development in a number of ways. 169 national schools are working to create the conditions necessary to introduce their students to the history, culture, language, traditions, and customs of these nations. National schools contribute to the strengthening of the patriotic and international position of the young generation. As of today, the variety of non-confessional models of national school includes such schools as Buryat, Russian, Evenk, Eastern Baikal Cossack, Eastern Baikal Old Russian Orthodox Believers',  Cultural Dialogue "East-West," which, in turn, includes Republican National Boarding School-Lyceum #1, Russian and Buryat gymnasiae, Buryat-Turkish Lyceum of Ulan-Ude, Lycea schools in the Kurumkansky, Tunkinsky, Kizhinginsky, Zaigrayevsky, Djidinsky, Zakamensky, and Yeravninsky districts, socio-pedagogical eco- and ethno- pedagogical complexes in the Kyakhtinsky, Yeravninsky, and Kurumkansky districts, models of national school in the Mookhorshibirsky, Kabansky, Zaigrayevsky, Bauntovsky, Ivolginsky, Khorinsky, Zakamensky, and Kizhinginsky district, folk calendar schools in the Tarbagataysky and Khorinsky districts.