Abstract
In the 90s of the XIX century in the Steppe region, the regional authorities initiated the process of creating a new type of educational institution for Kazakh children - aul school. The aul school was designed to reduce the amount of state funding for primary school education, make it more accessible to the Kazakh society, and reduce the influence of the traditional Muslim school in the steppe. The article reconstructs the process of creating aul schools in the regions of the Steppe Region on the basis of archival sources, a large number of which is introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, and reveals the reasons for their low popularity among the Kazakh population. It is noted that in the first decade of the twentieth century, the authorities were forced to abandon the practice of opening aul schools.