The aim of the publication is the analysis of formation and development of the primary school in the post-reform period in rural areas of the Perm province in terms of its strategic perspective which suggests transition to compulsory primary education as an integral part of the process of creating social and cultural environment of modern times.Methods. Education is observed in terms of institutional and systemic approaches, and the post-reform stage of its development is analyzed in the context of the modernization theory. Historical-dynamic analysis and comparative-historical method are mostly used when systemizing factual data.Results. The article reveals basic stages and characteristics of elementary public schools in the Perm province countryside during pre-vseobuch (compulsory education) period. The dynamics of the educational process in reference to the number of schools and enrollments is shown; the scale of the process and the participation of the «zemstvo system» (i.e. district council) and the Orthodox Church in it are estimated. The clergy’s view on parochial schools as a special type of educational institutions is also described. Difficulties faced by public school policy during the implementation of rural compulsory education in the province are marked. It is shown that to achieve total literacy in the rural areas in the pre-revolutionary period was impossible in spite of the accelerated speed of the school education and substantial progress in the organization of the compulsory primary education.Scientific novelty. Turning to the history of compulsory elementary schools in terms of the «compulsory education paradigm» offers the possibility to set clear criteria for assessing the level of development of the education system and show how the compulsory education environment was formed.Practical significance. The results of the study and the facts introduced into scientific use can be adopted as a part of academic courses on the history and sociology of education.