A glimpse of hope, my son

A century ago there were very few schools that were available for Kazakh learners. That time was full of hurdles and being able to read and write was not possible as there were language barriers. Since there was an outstanding Kazakh educator Ybyray Altynsarin who tried to change this situation by introducing literature in Kazakh and bringing the notion that being educated is the same as being open-minded and open-hearted the situation changed little by little. Later, schools were established, and he began to educate children and write material to be used in the lessons. It should be pointed out that Altynsarin was encouraged to educate and propose knowledge to the young generation to make their future bright and beneficial. As books contained knowledge to be spread mostly in the Russian language, Altynsarin was eager to create an agenda that suggested the Kazakh language be utilized at the same level as Russian. Therefore he devoted a large amount of time and energy to inventing umpteen creative works for schoolchildren by presenting the possibility to have the material in the native language. Consequently, it would result in broadening children’s minds and nurturing courage in their hearts for the competent knowledge they gained. For this reason, his popular creative art "Let's children learn and gain knowledge with bright thought. . . " ("Kel, balalar, okylyk, . . . ) was written and proclaimed as an invitation to the world of education even today as we can see these words at the entrance of schools even of the private ones. Today, we can encounter the fact that with the establishment of state schools there are also private schools. This commodity reveals that education is trendy and enlightening knowledge creates liberty of choice for what school to choose to get an education. Altynsarin mentioned that anything large could be maintained only by digging little by little, nothing is obtained by bulk and at once. This was presented in the noted above work by a magpie. Altynsarin's zest was to explain complicated things by exemplifying everyday phenomena taken from nature. This was his unique characteristic in selection of techniques in teaching. Hence, his work motivated people to be patient in the process of obtaining knowledge. Even though we understand that contemporary schools are aimed at having a variety of perspectives in educating a whole child, we realize that the basis of those principles was proposed by Kazakh emminent teacher - Ybyray. To exemplify, he said that nothing could be immortal in life, no matter whether they are a person's nearest and dearest, either wealth or possessions as cattle, only knowledge could be a pivot to recover from all the challenges. Concluding, it should be mentioned that Ybyray Altynsaryn’s creative work and passion to educate are still vivid and could be noticed in the schools’ walls and books. A person’s enlightening purpose has found its respectful place in Kazakh society and a generation that would promote education would employ his principles and promote education with the perspective of a popular Kazakh educator.