Any nation is rightfully proud of its politicians, public figures, poets and writers. In modern Kazakhstan, the memory of Ibrai Altynsarin is especially honored, who devoted his entire adult life to eliminating illiteracy, familiarizing the Kazakh people with the values of Russian and world culture.
Ibray Altynsarin - an outstanding educator of the 19th century, ethnographer, poet, prose writer, translator. Thanks to his efforts, the first schools appeared on Kazakh soil, where children from ordinary families could study.
Childhood and youth
Ibray Altynsarin was born on November 2, 1841. Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about his parents. According to some reports, Altynsarin's father died in 1844. From a young age, Ibrai was in the care of his grandfather Balgozhi Zhanburchin, who held the honorary position of biy in his village. Bey ismagistrate, mentor, adviser, public figure.
Until the last days of his life, Ibrai Altynsarin did not forget his small homeland - the village of Zhanburchi, which was part of the Arakaragay volost of the Nikolaevsky district. Today, in memory of the great fellow countryman, the former volost was renamed into Altynsarinsky district on the territory of the Kostanay region of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
When the boy was nine years old, he was sent to a recently opened special school for indigenous children. The educational institution was located in the city of Orenburg, teaching there was conducted mainly in Russian. The guys who arrived from different settlements lived in a boarding school organized here.
Along with school, Ibrahim devotes all his free time to reading. Among his favorite works of world literature are the poems of Byron, Goethe and Shakespeare, the poems of Pushkin and Lermontov, the works of oriental authors Firduosi and Navoi.
Having successfully completed a seven-year course of study, Ibrai Altynsarin, at the insistence of the authorities, remains in Orenburg, works as a translator in the regional government.
First steps in the field of education
The position of an interpreter does not attract a young man, Ibrahim dreams of teaching. In 1860, he finally leaves Orenburg and moves to the Turgai fortress (now the city of the same name), where he was offered a job as a teacher in a Russian gymnasium. But Ibray Altynsarin, whose biography vividly proves his love for his people, makes a lot of efforts so that Kazakh children can also get access to knowledge.
A few years later, Altynsarin is building an elementary school building for boys from Kazakh families with the funds raised from the local population and his personal savings. The opening of this educational institution took place on January 8, 1864. The school opened its doors to the first students.
Already in March of the same year, a young teacher wrote in his diary: “With the same feeling with which a hungry wolf attacks a sheep, I am glad that I have the opportunity to introduce Kazakh children to knowledge. It has only been three months, and my students have already mastered the skills of writing and reading. I believe that in a few years they will join the ranks of the most educated people in our society. I hope I will be able to instill in them the best human qualities, such as honesty, morality, justice.”
Administrative work
In those days, as, indeed, today, there was a great need for educated, comprehensively developed personalities. Therefore, Altansarin is often invited to various positions in the state apparatus. In 1868–1874 he serves as a clerk in the city government, in subsequent years he holds the position of judge, deputy head of the county, performs the duties of the county chief in his absence, and inspects the work of educational institutions.
Occupying responsible positions in the education system, Ibray Altynsarin seeks to open new schools in various cities of the Nikolaevsky district. Only during 1884 were the buildings of educational institutions built in Aktobe,Nikolaevsk, Irgiz, Yelets and Turgai fortresses. A little later, with the direct participation of Altynsarin, the Turgai vocational school and the Irgiz seminary were created. The opening of a comprehensive Kazakh school for girls, which accepted the first students in 1887, was an unprecedented achievement of an innovative teacher at that time.
Creation of educational methodological base
Saying that Ibray Altynsarin is an outstanding educator, one cannot fail to mention his huge contribution to the national education system. Thanks to the efforts of this remarkable person, the first textbooks in the Kazakh language and Russian textbooks for Kazakh schools were published. Altynsarin participated in the development of the national educational base, and personally wrote and published several educational books.
In 1879, his “Kazakh reader” was published, and ten years later, a collection of literature for reading at school in the Kazakh language called “Maktubat”. The teacher's Peru owns a methodological manual for teachers "Initial Guide to Teaching the Kyrgyz Russian Language".
Contribution to national culture
Sometimes schoolchildren studying history have a question: “Ibray Altynsarin is the author of what works?” It should be noted here that Altynsarin was not a fundamental scientist, and considered the involvement of the broad masses of the indigenous population in education as the main business of his life. Therefore, he did not write scientific works, directing his talent and knowledge to create books for children and youth, processing folklore works, translating the best examplesworld literature into the Kazakh language.
The works of Ibray Altynsarin are dozens of schools built for Kazakh children, hundreds of grateful students and thousands of followers of his glorious work. One of the most significant contributions of Altynsarin to the national culture is the creation of an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet, which gave impetus to the development of Kazakh writing.
Literary activity
The creative heritage of the great teacher is represented by ethnographic essays, translations of works of Russian and world literature, author's poems, stories, fables. A huge niche is occupied by folk tales, carefully collected and processed by the writer. Ibrai Altynsarin is considered to be the founder of Kazakh literature for children and youth. Through his efforts, colloquial Kazakh speech acquired modern literary forms.
The Reader for Kazakh schools, created by Altynsarin, contains translations of stories by L. N. Tolstoy and K. Ushinsky, poems by A. Pushkin and M. Lermontov, and works by other Russian classics. The enlightening talent of Altynsarin had a huge impact on the cultural and spiritual development of the Kazakh people.
Gratitude of contemporaries and descendants
For educational, professional and social activities, Ibrai Altynsarin was repeatedly awarded with awards of the Russian Empire, he was awarded the title of real state councilor. Today, the name of the great son of the Kazakh people is carried by educational institutions, squares and streets in many cities and villages of the RepublicKazakhstan.
In the city of Kostanay, on the site of one of the first schools organized by Altynsarin, a memorial museum was created. In the halls of this cultural and historical institution, you can see colorful expositions that convey the atmosphere of a century and a half ago. Of great interest to visitors is the sculptural composition, where, surrounded by his students, the great teacher Ibray Altynsarin sits as if alive. You can see a photo of the recreated interior of the school office on this page.
