An academic competition in the Kazakh language dedicated to the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate and the 20th anniversary of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan took place at S. Toraighyrov Pavlodar State University.

The competition was held for non-Kazakh students of years 1 and 2. Before the beginning of the competition, there was a qualification round where 15 best candidates were selected. The competition was organized by the Department of the Kazakh Language of S. Toraighyrov PSU and the Student Union Committee.

According to Ayman Zeynulina, Head of the Kazakh Language Department, this annual academic competition is carried out in order to promote the official language among students, raise people's interest in the language, and expand the scope of its application. “Our goal is to find out how well our students speak Kazakh, arouse the interest in the national art, teach respect for the key value of our people, i.e. the native language,” she said.

The competition included 3 stages. The first stage consisted in exposition of the given texts. The second stage included 2 tasks. Participants prepared monologues on particular topics and then made some dialogues on some real-life situations. Some of the topics were related to main events of the year, such as the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate, the 20th anniversary of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory, preparation for EXPO, customs and traditions of Kazakh people, our art, etc. Finally, at the third stage participants of the competition showed their skills in poetry and prose declamation, sang songs and danced.

Azhar Sadovskaya (VTiP-102) and Natalya Kireyeva (Mekh-102) shared the third prize. Natalya Dremova (B-102) finished second. Mikhail Krikunov (KhTOV-202) won the main prize. All prize-winners received letters of appreciation and awards in various categories. “The competition was really exciting, we all wanted to do our best and win. In my opinion, it is a civic duty of every patriot to speak the official language,” said Mikhail Krikunov.

Photo by Rufina Torpischeva