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Akram Valiev, who is Bashkir, was born in 1913 in Bashkiria, Russia. He moved to Central Asia to escape arrest and became a teacher. “There was always bribery in the education system. I think it will never stop,” he said. Rayhon Jonbekova interviewed him in Osh on March 11, 2009.

I was born in 1913 in a small village in Bashkiria [now Bashkortostan, in Russia]. My father was mullah and a leader at the mosque. We were poor. When the revolution started in the 1920s [sic], my father was arrested for teaching religion. After that, he advised me never to go against the government and to be productive member of society. He also told me that, if I wanted to study, I should go to Turkestan.

The people of Turkestan are a “golden” nation. In Turkestan, Bukhara is very well known for being a center of knowledge. In 1929, when I knew that I was on the list of those to be arrested, I took my father’s advice and went to study. At the beginning, a Russian man took me to work with him. I worked on the railway. He was a kind man and got me Communist Party card. After a year, he advised me to study. In 1930, I studied for a year.

After finishing, I worked for a year as an instructor for young workers, to improve the literacy rate. At the end of the day one day, a Tatar Communist visited me and invited me to study with him. We both went to study in the city of Tomsk. From 1931 to 1933, I studied in Tomsk and worked there in a library, distributing newspapers. After that, I went to Bukhara to continue my education. There, I attended Rabfak [the workers’ department]. The director of the Rabfak was an honest and fascinating Communist. In Rabfak, I studied on a full governmental scholarship. We got clothes, food, books – everything we needed to study. The only criterion for admission was knowledge of the Uzbek language.

Once there was an issue: Two students – a Russian and a Tatar – ran away from the institute. The head of the institute asked me to bring them back. “If they refuse, here is a package to give to the public security officer. Ask him to help,” he told me. In the package there was a note, which said that the two students had stolen musical instruments. I found out that the father of the Tatar student was an attorney, so I brought them back without major difficulty. After this, I understood that the leader of Uzbekistan, Akmal Ikramov, [1] had a strict policy of educating all the native Uzbek speakers.

I finished Rabfak in 1937. In the same year, I attended the Gospedinistut [Government Pedagogical Institute] in Samarkand, majoring in physics and mathematics. I received a diploma, although I was a poor student. In Samarkand, I studied with the former Tajik Minister of Science, who was rich. When we went to parties, he gave me his suits to wear. He was a kind person.

After finishing my studies, I was sent to the army, to the 221^st Company of sharpshooters. I was stationed in Russia, not far from Stalingrad. When the Germans attacked Stalingrad, we surrounded them. I was wounded in the war. I spent about eight months in a hospital and was released from the army as an invalid. In 1943 I came to Osh. Life during the war was difficult. There were many hooligans in Osh then.

About that time, a university opened in Osh. I was a faculty member there for 17 years. In 1939, a teachers’ institute had opened and that’s where I worked. Based on this institute, a pedagogical institute was later opened. I worked there as well. Based on the pedagogical Institute, Osh State University was opened. I worked there until 1973. After that, I took my pension. After becoming a pensioner, I started to write books. I taught mathematics and wrote books about it. Aside from mathematics, I wrote about spiritual education. I knew Arabic very well. I have many Muslim and Tatar calendars, which I translated. My books are available in some schools in Kyrgyzstan and in Bashkiria as well.

I wrote a book about the schools in Osh. From 1838 - 1875, five madrassas were built. Over the next 19 years, eight schools were built here to teach the Koran. The first [non-Muslim] school was constructed by General Funkov. After the area became a part of Russia [of the Russian Empire], education became an important part of the culture.

When the first Russian language schools were opened in Osh, it was difficult for students to study in Russian. Many didn’t go to school, but continued working until the revolution. In 1919, the Russian school was turned into a Kyrgyz-Uzbek school. In 1950s, there was a project to open one local-language school for every 50 square kilometers. About 30 schools were opened in the Fergana Valley. The positive effect of the Russians coming here is that they opened many schools in Osh.

Once, an Uzbek student was late to school and the teacher beat him with a stick. The student went to his father, showed him his back, and told him that he didn’t want to go to school anymore. Later, when the indigenous schools opened again, he went back to continue his studies and became an academic.

There was always bribery in the education system. I think it will never stop. One day, when I was teaching, a student came to me and offered me money. He asked me to help him with the graduation examination. I told him to take his money back and helped him for free. I didn’t take bribes from students. But sometimes, when part-time students came down from mountains, they brought kumys, airan, and kaimak [2] with them and gave it to me because, according to Muslim law, a student must thank his instructor. My father was a mullah and he taught namaz and Koran. He got presents, too. But I never forced my students to bring me anything.

In Kyrgyzstan, there was a lack of teaching resources and materials. It was difficult for me to get started. I had to take Russian-language materials and translate them into Kyrgyz. I know all the Muslim languages: Kazakh, Uzbek, Bashkir, Tatar, and Arabic.

I am Bashkir and my wife was Tatar. She lived in Osh, but we met each other in Samarkand where we studied together. She was a good student and a good instructor. We wrote to each other and then, in 1943, I came to Osh. We had two children. We lived together and, 10 years ago, she died. I didn’t married again, because I wanted to save the good memories that I had with my wife. A new wife could bring a new life and it might destroy some good memories from the past.

After it became a part of Russia, many Tatar people came to Kyrgyzstan. They taught religion here and had positive opinions about Kyrgyzstan. One of my friends, Musa Shavkat, had to leave Kyrgyzstan after 13 years. He wrote that he counted “the 13 years of [his] life in Osh as a life in Paradise.” Another person said that Kyrgyz people are “golden.” They are very friendly. Before, Kyrgyz people lived in the mountains, in yurts. That was their life. Osh was mainly populated by Bashkirs and Uzbeks. The people living in the cities were mainly educated people. The Kyrgyz people didn’t know how much wealth that they had. They didn’t know how many cows or sheep they had. Before there were manapi [rich people], and fakiri [poor people]. After becoming a part of Russia, Kyrgyz people’s lives improved.