This article examines the complex process of systemic transformation of public education in national educational institutions in the 1920s, based on a wide range of new archival sources. The author analyses the historical dynamics of the transition from fragmented educational initiatives to a centralised institutional model, which took place in conditions of profound socio-economic instability and a radical breakdown of the traditional Kazakh aul way of life. Unique materials from the Archives of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the historical archives of the Omsk Region, in particular the Kupinsky District archives, the state archives of the Saratov Region and the Orenburg Region, are being introduced into scientific circulation, allowing for a detailed examination of the key challenges of the period under consideration: critical staff shortages, weak material and technical base of educational institutions, and the search for adequate methodological approaches. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical and practical role of the national intelligentsia, in particular the activities of A. Baitursynov, in adapting educational programmes and creating the first generation of textbooks in the Kazakh language, which became the foundation for a qualitative transformation of the system. The article examines in detail the factor of «professionalism and conscientiousness»: using the example of the activities of teachers-liquidators, it shows how the personal social responsibility of teachers became a decisive resource for the implementation of reforms in the absence of budgetary funding. The author concludes that the transformation of the education system in the 1920s was irreversible, becoming not only an effective tool for eliminating illiteracy, but also a key mechanism for forming a new professional identity and ensuring social mobility among the population. Studying this experience allows us to rethink the mechanisms of state educational policy during periods of systemic crises and transformations.