YOUTH (1917 - 1941). SCHOOL YEARS AND YOUTH

In 1924, Uzbekistan became part of the USSR, and active eradication of illiteracy began in the republic. At that time, about 674 schools were opened in Uzbekistan annually. So, while in 1910 there were only 476 primary (new method) schools for about 30,000 students on the territory of the republic, by 1925 there were more than 2,500 primary schools for 200,000 people. Thousands of children in cities and remote kishlaks (village in Central Asia) went to primary school in order to make up the contingent of young people who would soon replace their less literate, or even illiterate, parents. Sharaf Rashidov was no exception.

In 1926, Sharaf Rashidov entered the Jizzakh seven-year school No. 10 named after Narimanov. According to his contemporaries, studying was easy for him, because as a child he had an excellent memory which distinguished him from most of his peers. His classmate Mukhtaram Nosirova recalls: "Sharaf showed much more concentration and thoughtfulness compared to his peers. He seemed mature beyond his years. Even his teachers treated him as an equal. There was no school event where he did not participate. Sharaf had a very developed sense of empathy for someone else's misfortune. He offered help to anyone who needed it. Besides being a monitor of the class, Sharaf was also elected editor of a school newspaper, because it had become known to everyone that he wrote poetry."