How Russian-language education was created in Turkestan
Leading Russian philologists worked on the creation of textbooks for schools in Turkestan.
In 1873, the first Turkestan Governor-General, Konstantin von Kaufmann, developed and presented to the tsarist government a special plan for organizing the education of the local population. Premises were found for schools, and teachers came from Russia. But the question arose: how to teach local children in Russian if they practically did not speak it?
Merchant idea
Historians believe that the idea of mass opening of schools for the population of Turkestan belonged to the Tashkent merchant and philanthropist Seid Azimbay Makhammadbaev. He himself spoke excellent Russian and understood that knowledge of Russian speech would help the region develop.
As she indicated in her book «Russian language in Turkestan: milestones of the past» doctor of Historical Sciences Olga Sumarokova, the merchant shared this idea at one of the official receptions with the Governor-General of Turkestan Konstantin Kaufman. The merchant liked the last offer. But how to bring an idea to life? The answer to this question was found by the Minister of Public Education Dmitry Tolstoy. He told Konstantin von Kaufmann about the system of the Russian educator Nikolai Ilminsky.
– During the conversation between the minister and the governor general, it became clear that the developed methodology is successfully used in schools for Tatar children – olga Sumarokova explained. – Ilminsky believed that education of the local population should begin not in Russian, but in his native language. The educator developed a four-year course program. For the first two years, education was conducted in the native language using manuals compiled on the basis of a schedule. The Russian language was introduced gradually – in the form of conversational lessons.
