Up to this time we have acquainted you with all the activities carried out by our teachers and students. Our main supporters in educating the students who will be future citizens are parents. 

This time we have decided to apply to a parent’s opinion on this issue. Using this precious moment, we would like to express our gratitude to all parents who have confided in us by giving their children to our schools. We will try to do our utmost to justify their trust. As a proverb says ‘united we stand, divided we fall’, so, dear parents, let us always act together in upbringing the youth that is to serve our country.   

Our first guest is a father of three children, a director of ‘Akshatau’ firm, Shora Ormakhan.  

- A few years ago I with my family went on a holiday abroad. My son was in the 4th grade then. While there, we found it quite difficult to communicate with the natives. At that time a Kazakh boy came up to help us with the language. He might have been on holiday with his parents too I presume. He was only studying in the 8th grade. Despite it he was very good at English. I was really excited at his fluency of a foreign language, so I went on inquiring about it. My idea was to find out the school where he had learnt such good English so as to send my son there as well. What derived from the talk was that he was a student of a Kazakh-turkish high school (KTL). Until that I had never heard of them. On my arrival back, I started to look for some information about KTL. I even spoke to some parents whose children were studying there to get their view on these schools.

- What astounded me was that 80% of all parents sending their children to KTLs put good behavior first and only 20% of them put education first. It is because good behavior and knowledge are twins. The knowledge given without good behavior is worthless. As for KTLs, here work professionals who adhere to this ideal very much. Due to this, graduates of these schools have been studying in best universities and known for their good moral behavior and now being useful citizens to their country. And my son got 119 points in national testing and got a grant to study marketing in Suleyman Demirel University.

- Yes that’s right. And this is the fact that makes KTLs different from other schools. In KTL a parent-teacher-student triangle works very efficiently. A parents union is elected to work cooperatively with the school administration to solve many problems. That’s because their aim is one. It is our children’s future. After rejoicing at our children’s success and getting upset at their failures together with teachers, we became extremely close to each other. There are youngsters studying who are followers of our children now and I try to share my experience with their parents as much as I can. And I am very happy to do that. By the way, I not only call on our school in Aktobe but I also visit other Kazakh-turkish high schools in other cities when I am there just to ask how well they are. It has become a habit for me. There are even some graduates who get together in order to help their school financially if they can afford it. For example, such modern technologies as interactive white boards, computers, etc.  

 

- As an example, I can mention a seminar named ‘Upbringing of a child is the fate of a nation’ that was held in Aktobe KTL recently. Apart from parents and teachers, some authorities from education department took part in the seminar too. The seminar as says its name indeed turned into a beneficial debate for all participants over improving the upbringing and education of our children. In addition, we parents, teachers and monitors of our school organized a charity event for those in need. The sports competitions among parents, picnics made together in the countryside and celebrating Nauryz every year are all results of the work of this triangle.

- In your opinion, what is the key point of KTL’s successful education?

- Of course, since all of the above mentioned activities are for our children, then they will definitely affect education. Personally, I think the key point of the success is the fact that children stay in dormitory. In this sense, the great work is done by monitors. They spent days and nights with our children patiently answering all their questions and clarifying some topics they have not understood well. They even tolerate our children’s various disruptive behavior due to their difficult age (14-15 years) and show their compassion towards them.

As I said before, I express my deep gratitude to all the people working in these schools. I would like that numbers of Kazakh-turkish high schools increase and more children from rural areas would be given chances to study there. That’s because most students studying there come from urban areas. But that does not necessarily mean that rural students have poorer knowledge because urban people have a few years preparation before they apply to KTL. Unfortunately in the country they lack such opportunity. Consequently, admission questions on logic may be hard for the country students. Or they may be separately evaluated. As you know, most prominent scholars of our nation come from the country. So who knows whether or not it will continue? I wish Kazakh-turkish high school for girls would open in our western region of the country. Let’s see it in the future…

 

Aliya Omirzakkyzy