Every nation is rightfully proud of its politicians, public figures, poets and writers. In modern Kazakhstan, the memory of Ibrai Altynsarin, who devoted his entire conscious life to the eradication of illiteracy, the introduction of the Kazakh people to the values of Russian and world culture, is especially honored.
Ibrai Altynsarin is an outstanding enlightener of the 19th century, an ethnographer, poet, prose writer, translator. Thanks to his efforts, the first schools appeared on Kazakh soil, in which children from simple families could study.
Childhood and youth
Ibrai 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 under the care of grandfather Balgozhi Zhanburchin, who held the honorary post of bi in his aul. Biy is a justice of the peace, mentor, adviser, and 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 Arakaragai volost of Nikolaev district. Today, in memory of the great countryman, the former volost was renamed to Altynsarinsky district in the territory of the Kostanay region of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
When the boy was nine years old, he was sent to the recently opened special school for indigenous children. The educational institution was located in the city of Orenburg, teaching was conducted mainly in Russian. The guys who arrived from different settlements lived in a boarding school organized here.
Along with classes at 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 eastern authors Firdouosi and Navoi.
Having successfully completed a seven-year training course, Ibrai Altynsarin, at the insistence of the authorities, remains in Orenburg, works as a translator in the regional administration.
First steps in the field of education
The position of a interpreter does not attract a young man, Ibrahim dreams of teaching. In 1860, he finally left Orenburg and moved 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 Ibrai Altynsarin, whose biography vividly proves love for his people, makes a lot of efforts so that children of Kazakhs can also get access to knowledge.
A few years later, Altynsarin is building an elementary school building for boys from Kazakh families with 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 the doors for the first students.
Already in March of that year, the young teacher wrote in his diary: “With the same feeling with which a hungry wolf pounces on a sheep, I am glad that I have the opportunity to familiarize Kazakh children with knowledge. Only three months passed, and my students had already mastered writing and reading skills. I believe that in a few years they will join the ranks of the most educated people in our society. I hope that I will be able to cultivate the best human qualities in them, such as honesty, morality, and justice. ”
Administrative work
In those days, as, indeed, today, there was a great need for educated, comprehensively developed personalities. Therefore, Altansarina is often invited to various positions in the state apparatus. In 1868–1874 he serves as a clerk in the city administration, in the following years he holds the position of judge, deputy head of the county, performs the duties of the district chief in his absence, inspects the work of educational institutions.
Occupying important posts in the education system, Ibrai Altynsarin is seeking the opening of new schools in various cities of Nikolaev district. Only during 1884 were the buildings of educational institutions in Aktyubinsk, Nikolaevsk, Irgiz, Yelets and Turgai fortresses built. A little later, with the direct participation of Altynsarin, the Turgai craft school and the Irgiz seminary were created. An unprecedented achievement of an innovative teacher at that time was the opening of a comprehensive Kazakh school for girls, which accepted the first students in 1887.
Creation of educational methodological base
Saying that Ibrai Altynsarin is an outstanding enlightener, one cannot but mention his enormous contribution to the national education system. Thanks to the efforts of this remarkable person, the first textbooks in the Kazakh language and Russian manuals for Kazakh schools were released. Altynsarin participated in the development of the national educational base, and also personally wrote and published several educational books.
In 1879, his “Kazakh anthology” was published, and ten years later - a collection of literature for reading at a school in the Kazakh language under the name “Maktubat”. The teacher’s pen belongs to the methodological manual for teachers, “An Initial Guide for Teaching Kyrgyz to the Russian Language”.
Contribution to National Culture
Sometimes students studying history students ask: “Ibrai Altynsarin, the author of what works?” It should be noted here that Altynsarin was not a fundamental scientist, and considered the introduction of broad masses of the indigenous population to be the main business of his life. Therefore, he did not write scientific works, directing his talent and knowledge to creating books for children and youth, processing works of folklore, translating the best examples of world literature into Kazakh.
The works of Ibrai Altynsarin include dozens of built schools for Kazakh children, hundreds of grateful students and thousands of successors of his glorious work. One of Altynsarin’s most significant contributions to national culture is the creation of 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 rightfully considered the founder of Kazakh literature for children and youth. With his efforts, colloquial Kazakh speech acquired modern literary forms.
The “Reader” for Kazakh schools created by Altynsarin contains translations of the stories of L. N. Tolstoy and K. Ushinsky, poems by A. Pushkin and M. Lermontov, and works by other Russian classics. The educational 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 the awards of the Russian Empire, he was awarded the title of a real state adviser. Today, the name of the great son of the Kazakh people are educational institutions, squares and streets in many cities and villages of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
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 exhibits 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 Ibrai Altynsarin sits as if alive. A photo of the recreated interior of the school office you see on this page.