ACADEMIC CENTERS OF THE BASHKIR, TATAR AND CHUVASH PEOPLE’S COMMISSARIATS OF EDUCATION: MAIN DIRECTIONS AND RESULTS OF ACTIVITY

In the 1920s, academic centers – special bodies of the People’s Commissariats of Education, which united and directed research, educational, methodological and local history work within the autonomy – played an important role in the development of education and science in autonomous republics of the Middle Volga region. Studying the history of academic centers, which at one time managed to consolidate the best intellectual forces of the autonomous republics around themselves, is extremely important for understanding the processes that took place in the spiritual life of the regions of Russia in the 1920s. The purpose of the research is to study the history of the activities performed by the academic centers of the Bashkir, the Tatar and the Chuvash People’s Commissariats of Education from the moment of their uprise until their subsequent liquidation in the early 1930s, to identify the most important areas of work carried out by academic centers and to evaluate the effectiveness of their activities. Materials and methods. This article is based on the study of scientific literature and materials of the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic. The methodological basis of the research is made by the principles of objectivity, historicism and consistency, as well as the aggregate of general scientific and special historical methods. Research results. Despite all the difficulties that academic centers had to face in the 1920s, their activities turned out to be useful in those conditions. This is largely due to the fact that in all the three republics, local authorities managed to attract the best intellectual forces to the work of academic centers. The article gives prominence the following main directions and results of the activities carried out by the academic centers of the Bashkir, the Tatar and the Chuvash People’s Commissariats using specific examples: The role in solving the problem of developing the Bashkir, the Tatar and the Chuvash literary written languages. The activities of terminology commissions at academic centers, which considered the issues of writing and pronunciation of special terms. Implementation of editorial and publishing activities. Development, review and approval of numerous programs for various educational and cultural institutions. Solving other issues related to educational institutions (professional development of education workers, approval of various regulatory and departmental documents, etc.). Promoting the development of research in the autonomous republics. Support for the local history movement. Influence on the development of national culture. Conclusions. There were certain differences in the activities carried out by the academic centers of the Bashkir, the Tatar and the Chuvash People’s Commissariats of Education in the 1920s. However, in general, all of them played an important role in providing the educational process with work programs and educational literature, in the development of science and the local history movement. Academic centers were of particular importance for the development of the Bashkir, the Tatar and the Chuvash languages.