One of the results of the educational reform of the 1860s was the formation of the regular personnel of village teachers. In Vilna educational district the goal was not to invite teachers from central Russia, but to train them on the spot by establishing special seminaries. Trained teachers were supposed to perform the role of «cultural brokers» – the intermediaries between local peasants and the outside world, between the culture of Russian intelligentsia and the culture of the Belarusian people. The article examines how officials and teachers of Vilna educational district saw the role of rural teachers as «cultural brokers» in the context of the linguistic and cultural diversity of the North-Western Provinces. According to them, the graduates of the pedagogical seminaries had to remain within the peasant estate and to keep in touch with their folk «roots». The special «mission» of the village teachers was in promoting the ideas of «Russian elements» and historical proximity to Russia among Belarusian peasants.
