Introduction. In recent years, the state has been paying great attention to the national development of the regions of the Russian Federation, in which the education sector plays an important role. Regionalization of education involves the creation of conditions for the functioning of regional educational systems in accordance with the cultural needs of the regions, taking into account the national and regional specifics and identity. For fifteen years, the ideological policy of the state in the field of education has been implemented in Mordovia, there is a tendency to teach the native (Mokshan or Erzyan) language. The study of this process is necessary for the formation of the prospects for the development of the regional educational space at the present time. Materials and Methods. The study is based on the use of problem-chronological and historical-comparative methods, which make it possible to trace the history of the development of schools and pedagogical educational institutions of the region in dynamics, to consider general patterns and regional features of the development of the school system. Results. In the course of the study, the features of the development of national education in the Mordovian territory were studied from the moment the Mordovian state autonomy was founded (late 1920s – 1930s) to the present. The specificity of the Soviet model of school education was considered, as well as the school in the post-Soviet period. In addition, the system of teaching national languages, which has developed today, has been analyzed. Discussion and Conclusion. The study of the basic principles of the development of national education in Mordovia showed that at different stages the degree of implementation of the regional component in the general education system was different. A specific feature of educational policy in the USSR was the gradual denationalization of schools on the basis of a single Russian language. The tendency towards teaching the native language in the system of secondary (general) education in Mordovia began to manifest itself by the beginning of the 1990s. The main task of the Ministry of Education of Mordovia was to ensure the coordinated combination of the Mordovian and Russian components in the general educational institutions of the republic. The revival of high-quality teaching of Mordovian languages fell on the 2000s, when, with the support of regional and federal authorities, a movement began to restore the prestige of the national school.