Akmonshak Nurtaza
A life devoted to changing the future of children through education. Listening to students. Lifting up teachers. Reimagining the school.
From a steppe village. To a national figure.
Born in the Kyzylorda region and shaped in Astana, Akmonshak Nurtaza walked a quiet, deliberate path: from a primary-school teacher to the director of a 2,000-student gymnasium in the capital.
She lives by a single principle: "Service to people depends not on what you know, but on who you are." Today she is a mother of four, a state-honoured educator, a doctoral researcher and a public voice trusted by a generation of Kazakh teachers and parents.
Altyn Khanym.
Chosen by the people. The Golden Lady title.
In Almaty, more than 50,000 votes from the public crowned Akmonshak Nurtaza as Altyn Khanym — the Golden Lady. In 2025 she was further named "Creative Director of the Year." That same year, by Presidential decree, she was awarded the "Shapaghat" state medal.
This is not only my honour. It is the labour of every Kazakh woman.See all honours→
From the journal
Altyn Khanym: when the people's vote becomes history
From a quiet teacher to the people's choice. One thought from the night of the Altyn Khanym ceremony — about the work of every Kazakh woman.
A school is not the teacher's burden alone
Three thoughts from the director of School #58 at the start of a new academic year.
"Don't leave me, mother" — what I learned in the orphanages
As a mother of four, a director and a researcher — what the word "mother" means inside an orphanage.
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