The article presents the information on the foundation and improvement of functioning the late 18th–early 19th centuries schools of Irkutsk («gradskaya» and the Main State Public School), the first general educational institutions of the capital of Eastern Siberia. The studyof the topical problems underdiscussion in terms of pedagogical history gives grounds for thought in the aspect of the forms and methods applied to teaching that time, of the perception of a teacher in Irkutsk, and in the aspect of line-up of students and teachers within the frames of the target period of time. The fact of understanding the experience of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as a benchmark currently makes this research relevant. The aim of the study is to gain an insight into the functioning of the first general education institutions of Irkutsk at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. The methods of this research cover comparative analysis conducted on the historical sources that allow both to single out the problems associated with the socialization of estates, and to identify the concept for a particular level of education. As a result, this work highlights the process of effective formation and development of the first Irkutsk educational institutions within a certain period (late 18th–early 19th centuries). The effects considerpositive changes manifested in an improved quality of knowledge of students, in a larger coverage of students, in an increasing number of educated people living in Irkutsk; the results of the first Irkutsk schools presented are expressed both in providing graduates with basic knowledge, and in training of specialists. In conclusion, the author reflects on the database of the social status of the pupils, on the characteristics and dominant values of the teachers; analyzes the quantitative status of the pupils; statesthe Irkutsk leadership in a number of students, and focuses on the reconstruction of the cause-and-effect relationship, explaining the reasons of why exactly the Irkutsk school was the first to be transferred to the status of a gymnasium (1805).

Keywords: Irkutsk, first schools, pupils, teachers, "hail" school, Main public school, history.