THE ROLE OF THE IRAVAN TEACHERS SEMINARY IN THE TRAINING OF AZERBAIJANI TEACHERS

The city of Iravan, historically inhabited by Azerbaijanis, was one of the major centers of science, education and culture. The Iravan Khanate was under the rule of the Azerbaijanis from 1390 to 1828. Tsarist Russia occupied Azerbaijan and created an Armenian province here, settling 40,000 Armenians from Iran and 84,600 Armenians from the Ottoman Empire. Despite this, the city of Iravan has always maintained its national identity where it played an important role in the development of education. The article discusses the role of the Iravan Teachers Seminary, founded in 1881, in the training of Azerbaijani teachers. The seminary has exceptional merits in the development of the literary, social, scientific and cultural life of the Azerbaijani population of Iravan with its highly qualified national teachers, modern worldview and thinking, and has written glorious pages in our chronicle of pedagogical ideas. The seminary graduates took an active part in the opening secular schools in the areas inhabited by Azerbaijanis, and involving school-age children in
education, and played a huge role in the dissemination of education in Iravan, Nakhchivan and other regions of Azerbaijan. On December 29, 2021, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed the Decree “On the celebration of the 140th anniversary of the Iravan Teachers Seminary”. This is aimed to restore our historical memory and achieve strategic goals by owning the historical heritage created by Azerbaijanis in Iravan region for thousands of years.