Chingiz Aitmatov’s very famous novel 'The First Teacher' which is translated to Sinhala as 'Guru Geethaya' is a widely read book by Sinhala readership. Its political theme and the love story caught hearts of Sri Lankan youth, especially of university students.
Aitmatov was bilingual in Kirghiz and Russian and wrote in both languages. The year of his birth coincided with the publication of the first written Kirghiz alphabet. He was awarded the Lenin Prize for literature and the Arts in 1963 for his stories collection called ‘Tales of the Mountains and Steppes’. Sinhala readers should have read many of his works as translations. They are Jamila (1958), The First Teachr (1963) (Guru Geethaya), Mother Earth (1963) (Amma Saha Mihikatha), Farewell Gulzary (1966) (Samuganimu Gulsary) and The Cranes Fly Early (1975) (Welasana Kokku Evith).
The action takes place in the years from 1924 all the way to the early 1950s in the Kukureu village of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic, which is now Kyrgyzstan. The Russian Civil War ended not so long ago. Young Komsomol member and a former Red Army soldier Dyuyshen comes to the village as the new teacher of the village. His enthusiasm to bring new ideas immediately faces a centuries-old tradition of life in Central Asia. The former soldier tries to improve literacy to this far Moslem area while villagers didn't allow gỉrls to attend school. He then met Altynai, a 15-year-old illiterate girl who has a burning desire to study, but her aunt sells her to a powerful and wealthy chieftain. Then school is burned down and is rebuilt using centuries old trees, being a pride to the local population.
