Jonas Yčas

Jonas Yčas (21 July 1880 – 17 December 1931) was a Lithuanian educator and university professor. He served as the first minister of education of Lithuania from 11 November 1918 to 12 April 1919.

Yčas graduated from the Saint Petersburg Historical and Philological Institute which prepared teachers for Russian schools. He then worked as teacher at the Tomsk Gymnasium (1903–1908), gymnasium inspector in Semipalatinsk (1908–1916), and gymnasium principal in Voronezh (1916–1918). Despite the long distance, Yčas remained involved in Lithuanian cultural life. He attended annual synods of the Lithuanian Evangelical Reformed Church and was elected its curator in 1910; he joined the Lithuanian Scientific Society and published articles in its journal Lietuvių tauta; he was the chairman of the educational section of the Lithuanian Society for the Relief of War Sufferers and organized the Lithuanian teachers' courses.

Yčas returned to Lithuania mid-1918. He became the minister of education in the first cabinet of prime minister Augustinas Voldemaras in November 1918 and continued to serve in the next two cabinets until April 1919. Yčas had to organize the ministry, recruit its personnel, evacuate the ministry to Kaunas at the start of the Lithuanian–Soviet War, and transition schools from the German Ober Ost administration. In 1920, he earned his doctorate degree from the University of Königsberg. He then worked as the principal of three gymnasiums in Panevėžys (Boys', Girls', and Russian) and as the curator of education in the Klaipėda Region (a position with the Directorate of the Klaipėda Region). He resigned in 1927, devoting his time to teaching history at Vytautas Magnus University, a position he held since 1922. Despite his life-long interest in history, he had little time to devote to research. His monograph on the history of the Duchy of Biržai and the Radziwiłł family was published shortly after his death in December 1931.