Press Centre 2004/08/19: Girls’ Education
These Teachers Deserve Our Appreciation
Mehmet Yanlızan for Sabah Newspaper, 19th August 2004
Twenty-five teachers in the province of Bingöl covered 72 villages in a tour of 1,500km instead of enjoying their summer holidays. They convinced parents and ensured the school enrolment and attendance of 400 children -- 300 of whom were girls. Twenty-five committed teachers, four of them women, joined the MONE/UNICEF campaign as volunteers. Making 6 different groups, the teachers visited the parents of non-attending or out-of-school children in order to convince them.
Boarding facilities provided
Despite extremely hot weather conditions and the risk of terrorist activity in the area, the teachers visited many villages in the Province using transport provided by the Governorate. Their mission proved to be a great success when they managed the school enrolment or return of a great number of girls. They began their mission as soon as schools closed at the end of the last academic year. The teachers not only convinced otherwise stubborn parents but also solved the accommodation problems of many of the children. The Governorate and the Provincial Directorate of Education allocated boarding facilities for the newly enrolled students.
Four of them women
The exercise, which was highly appreciated by the educational community in Bingöl, developed as follows:
It all started with an appeal from the Bingöl Governorate to local teachers immediately after the end of the school year 2003-2004. Under the MONE/UNICEF Haydi Kızlar Okula! campaign, the Governorate asked for teachers to cover villages on a voluntary basis -- twenty-one men and four women responded.
Following a few days of planning, the teachers started to cover villages and hamlets with vehicles provided by the Governorate. Led by Serap Buzgan and Mahmut Buyankara, the team visited 72 communities during the course of two months and talked to the parents of children who were not attending school.
In six groups
According to team-leader Serap Buzgan, local families mostly withdraw their daughters from school after fifth grade. She added that she would consider the mission to be successful if they had managed to enroll only one girl in school. She says:
We worked in six different groups. We had a few rather extreme reactions from some of the families, but we managed to cope. Now we are going to follow-up on the school attendance of these children.
A ‘sacred’ mission
Mahmut Buyankara, another dedicated member of the team says that education is the most important problem in the region and it is actually why they were so enthusiastic to work as volunteers:
Our mission is an on-going thing -- we believe that we can manage to get more children enrolled. We didn’t have a holiday this summer but all the same this is a ‘sacred mission’ and you can always take your holidays at some other time, but these children can’t wait.
Support from the private sector and the state
Besides finding classrooms, these committed teachers also solved the textbook and stationery problems of 100 boy children from poor families by mobilising the support of businessmen and charity organisations.
Download the latest update on Haydi Kızlar Okula! in pdf format. [PDF 404KB]
Read more about Haydi Kızlar Okula! in our Programmes section. The full text of the Provincial Governors’ Declaration in support of Haydi Kızlar Okula! can be found in the UNICEF Turkey Press Centre.
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OTHER PRESS RELEASES ON GIRLS’ EDUCATION ISSUES
- Twenty-five committed teachers in Bingöl went without their summer holidays in order to meet parents who were not sending their daughters to school and help change their minds.
- Sabah newspaper reports from the province of Siirt where both the education system and the economy are is undergoing revolutionary changes.
- The Haydi Kızlar Okula! campaign was nothing short of a fortunate event for the children of the Toprak family in Altındağ who were out of school for lack of funds.
(Sabah Newspaper) - Minister of Education, Dr Hüseyin Çelik says that ‘positive discrimination’ in favour of females is necessary in the field of education in order to close the existing gap. (Posta Newspaper)
- Mrs Emine Erdoğan: “Let’s fight the ignorance that sees women as second class citizens!” (Zaman Newspaper)
- Haydi Kızlar Okula! -- UNICEF and the Ministry of National Education’s campaign to achieve gender parity in primary education -- enters the second phase with a declaration of support from the Governors of the thirty-three provinces where the campaign is currently active.
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