The article covers the history of the elimination of illiteracy in the West Kazakhstan region in the first half of the twentieth century. After the October revolution, immediately began to open schools and courses to eliminate illiteracy among the adult population. Schools for the illiterate in regions with material and cultural opportunities have begun to function. The elimination of illiteracy was carried out despite the difficulties associated with the lack of financial resources, teachers, teaching AIDS and writing materials. To do this, the regional Committee of the CPSU (b) sends the first graduates of the Kazakh pedagogical Institute to nomadic and semi-nomadic areas in order to improve and strengthen the work of district education departments. In the West Kazakhstan region, the indicator of the population with higher, incomplete higher, secondary and incomplete secondary education was at a high level. In General, the literacy rate in Kazakhstan reached 83.6% in 1939. The article highlights the achievements and difficulties of education in the region.