Museum of Education to set up in Vitebsk

The Museum of Education will be set up in Vitebsk, deputy head of the education department of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Tatiana Tsygankova told BelTA. The exposition of the museum will feature the rich historical material collected by local educational workers and ethnographers. Specialists managed to restore the chronology of educational sphere development in the Vitebsk oblast starting the Middle Ages. In particular, specialists discovered the documents which prove that it is Vitebsk was the centre of Belarus’ educational sphere in the 19th century. The museum will widely present the exhibits of the Soviet period – various information, training literature, prepared by Vitebsk professors, diplomas, students’ letters and others. A big collection of portraits of Vitebsk professors will be displayed there as well. According to specialists, the new museum is expected to open in 2009. According to the archives, on January 17, 1829, the Belarusian educational area which included the Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces was founded. Vitebsk became the centre of this area. In 1831, the Minsk province and in 1832, the Grodno, Vilno and Bialystok provinces joined the Belarusian educational area. Some 6 grammar schools, 17 regional colleges, 160 primary schools and 29 boarding schools (for women mainly) functioned in the area at that time.