Say Yes, Summer 2004: From Strength to Strength

The Haydi Kızlar Okula! campaign, launched in Van in June last year by the Ministry of National Education (MONE) with the support of UNICEF aims to close the gender gap in education by raising the school enrolment and attendance rates of girls. Within six months, 40,000 girls in ten provinces targeted during the first phase of the campaign were enrolled in school.

This year, Haydi Kızlar Okula! will focus on the 33 provinces where enrolment rates for girls in primary education are lowest.* Governors of the 33 provinces met in Ankara on the 1st of June in order to outline their plans and declare their support for the campaign at the launch of this second phase.

WHAT THEY SAID

In her opening speech, Mrs Emine Erdoğan, wife of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, said that if we want to raise stronger generations, we need to educate our children -- especially the girls.

Minister of Education, Dr Hüseyin Çelik said that under MONE and UNICEF’s Haydi Kızlar Okula! campaign, financial assistance will be offered through the Social Solidarity and Assistance Fund (SYDTF) to mothers who send their daughters to school.

The Governor of Van, Mr Hikmet Tan, said that a shortage of school buildings is the main reason why people in my province are not sending their girls to school. Children have to travel long distances to get to the boarding schools and many don’t want to put their daughters through that.

Mr Tan firmly believes that girls and their families need more female role models:

It’s important to send women teachers into rural areas -- a strategy which we have been promoting.

He added that: the local media has been especially supportive of the campaign, covering each new development as it occurred -- everyone in Turkey has been able to follow our progress through this kind of step-by-step coverage.

When asked how he is able to focus so much energy on girls’ education when there must be so many issues to deal with in a large province such as Van, Mr Tan replied that:

Coming from Siirt, I’m no stranger to this region and I understand what is to be poor and to be without hope. My late mother was illiterate and she often wished that she could read and write -- sadly, she had never been able to fulfil her wish when she died. It breaks my heart that she passed away without ever having had the pleasure of being able to read.

If I could change one aspect of this campaign, it would be to expand the focus to include the girls’ mothers and older sisters -- all women who are unable to read or write.

Mr Temel Koçaklar, Governor of Mardin has seen big changes in his province:

When I first came to Mardin, there were only three boarding schools. I was discussing one of these schools with a group of mothers and one of them said I won’t send my girls to that awful place! Well I got the message and we took steps to improve the quality as well as the number of buildings. Now we’re encouraging parents to come and visit their children at our schools -- it’s good for the children and it helps set the parent’s minds at rest about their children’s environment.

Mr Koçaklar would like to see more changes, however: We need to change our outlook on matters of education in the southeast -- a family might have as many as ten children but only half of them make it to school!

Ms Dilek Sabancı, daughter of the late industrialist Sakıp Sabancı, observed that: Girls’ education was a very important issue for my father. Before he died, he had 118 different projects on girls’ education. I wish the campaign every success.

Our problem with enrolment rates isn’t as extensive with the indigenous population as it is perhaps for other provinces says Mr Orhan Işın, Governor of Manisa. But we have a big immigrant population from the more eastern areas of the country. Manisa is a verdant, fertile region and people are attracted by the farming infrastructure which provides work all year round. Farming unfortunately uses a great deal of child labour and we are mainly concerned with these children who are missing out -- they need to be brought out of the fields and into the schoolrooms.

Governor Işın summed up the general feeling saying that:

You really need to take it to heart and promise yourself that in the future you won’t be looking at these figures again.

* During it’s first year Haydi Kızlar Okula! focused on the ten provinces of Ağrı, Batman, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Hakkari, Muş, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Şırnak and Van which had the lowest enrolment rates in primary education for girls. 23 new provinces were added this year.

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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