A young mathematics teacher from a village in Uzbekistan's Kashkadarya region has gone viral on social media for explaining math through simple, real-life examples. A reporter from the Gazeta newspaper spoke with Mutabar Bukhorova, who provides additional math lessons to village children in the Yakkabog district.
Born in 2002 in the village of Imam Yoqub, Mutabar studied at a lyceum specializing in mathematics and English from the 6th grade. She graduated from Chirchik State Pedagogical University in 2024 and has been working as a tutor for village children for a year and a half.
"My mother did all the housework. She never asked us to work. She said, 'Focus on your studies; when you grow up, no one will ask if your house is clean.' So we only studied," Mutabar recalls how her family created conditions for learning from an early age.
Mutabar's choice of teaching profession was influenced by her mother, Fazilat Tilovova, who has been teaching mathematics for 27 years. "Since I can remember, people on the street would greet my mother with 'Teacher, how are you?' I thought my mother was everyone's teacher. Seeing that respect, I wanted to become a teacher. Honestly, also because teachers get many gifts on October 1st," she says with a laugh.
As a child, Mutabar watched her mother teach village children at home. "In class, I knew math better than anyone, but I didn't understand the essence. I had a question: why, even when I studied well, didn't I understand some things? Finally, in the 6th grade, I found the answer. From that day, math became not an obligation but an interest," she says.
Realizing that theory alone is hard to grasp, Mutabar and her classmates sought examples and connected them to real life. When this method began to yield results, she became more attached to mathematics. "If your child dislikes math, it's not their fault, because most children just memorize formulas. They don't understand when and how to use them. That's why math seems scary. If they understand the essence, math becomes an easy subject," she explains her teaching style.
Currently, the young teacher instructs students in grades 1-7. According to her, this simple method—learning through real-life examples—is also helping her students. Children grasp topics more easily through visualization and learn faster. "Our life, our daily routine is mathematics. How much electricity we use to light our home, how many meters of carpet we need to buy, how to cut a birthday cake equally—all of this is connected to this subject," says Mutabar.
For example, the Pythagorean theorem. Mutabar does not start with the formula but explains what it is and why it is needed, demonstrating it practically. "I say, 'Take three steps forward, four steps to the right. Then connect those two points with steps.' The child does this and sees that the result is five steps. After that, I explain how the formula works," she emphasizes the importance of capturing the child's attention first.
Having taught over 100 students, Mutabar recalls that in the first lessons, children were afraid to ask questions, sat silently, and feared making mistakes. Today, they are much more active and quickly grasp new topics.
Mutabar wanted to start posting videos on Instagram a year ago, but her phone's camera quality was poor. "I told myself, not everyone in this life is perfect; accept yourself as you are, use what you have. I took a couple of videos without any benefit, just out of interest, and posted them—they went viral on their own. In a month, I gained 20,000 subscribers," she says. Now her subscriber count has exceeded 130,000. Her videos receive between 100,000 and 500,000 views, sometimes even millions.
Her simple explanations of math problems at home, using a basic blackboard and wearing casual clothes, have intrigued many. Most social media users praise her talent, commenting, "Why didn't we have such a teacher in school?" and "Math is such an interesting subject!"
One Instagram user wrote, "Schools should compete to hire a teacher like you. Your lessons are simple, understandable, and interesting—children love them. May there be more teachers like you." Another user, Muzaffar Ismoilkhon, commented that Mutabar "should work at the Institute for Professional Development."
Some have criticized Mutabar's clothing style and voice. For instance, one Instagram user commented under her video: "Teaching is super! But wearing home clothes is wrong. A teacher should have ethics and aesthetics. School is a cultural center different from home. A teacher should be at the level of a teacher." Mutabar notes that women in the village mainly wear dresses and trousers, and her attire should match the village style.
"I always read the comments under my videos. Some make me very happy, others don't. I don't understand those who pour their negativity onto someone else's clothes. How can one live like that?" says the young teacher. She believes that even negative feedback has helped expand her audience.
Mutabar admits that in her first videos, her voice was too loud and noisy because she stood close to the camera. "After watching the video, people said, 'Oh, she teaches so loudly and shrilly, how do students learn?' Yes, my speech may have flaws; I'm now taking speech lessons. But I have to speak loudly so my voice reaches all students," she explains.
Her neighbors, community members, and friends support her video activities. When she started posting, she had only three subscribers—her family members. "My father-in-law equipped a building in our neighborhood as a learning center with desks. I mainly teach there, and the rest of the time at home," Mutabar says gratefully.
She sometimes solves problems with students on the street, on asphalt, or even on a neighbor's rusty gate. "If God wills, in August I will take the SAT and CEFR exams, then get a job at a school. I want to work with SAT and teach children mathematics in English," she shares her plans.
Mutabar has received many job offers, especially from private schools in Kashkadarya and Tashkent, but she declined them. She wants to work at School No. 36 in her native village, where she feels needed. "There are few specialists in our village. Students spend a lot of money to study in the center. Travel and tuition fees are expensive. Many parents cannot afford to educate their children; in a family with three children, they can only send one to school. I have seen this among many acquaintances, and I try to teach their children for free. They have talent, but poor conditions," she says.
Mutabar has one child. She manages childcare, housework, lessons, and personal development by following a strict schedule. The day before, she prepares for the next lesson, thinking of several real-life examples to explain the topic.
Source: www.gazeta.uz