Nation’s school () was the name of a campaign of series of courses offered to adults to learn the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

in Turkey in 1929–1932.

Background

The

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, like many Islamic countries, used the

Arabic alphabet The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicase, unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most ...

, even though it was not able to reproduce certain Turkish vowels. Because the alphabet stemmed from the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

, it was considered unalterable. After the collapse of the Empire, the leader of the Turkish Republic,

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

, adopted the

in 1928, adjusting it to suit the Turkish language: omitting "Q", "W" and "X", and adding

diacritical A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...

marks to create umlaut versions of "O", "U" and "I", and the accented letters "Ç", "Ş" and "Ğ". In English such accented letters are usually written ''Ch'', ''Sh'' and ''Gh''

Alphabet reform

In June 1928, Atatürk asked Mustafa Necati, the Minister of National Education to form a committee to adopt the Latin alphabet. On 9 August 1928, Atatürk announced that the Latin alphabet would replace the Arabic alphabet. On 1 November 1928, the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

passed the law of the new Turkish alphabet as Act no 1353, and on 11 November 1928, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

decided to establish the "nation’s school". The project started on 24 November 1928. These schools were actually series of short courses for the adults. According to Falih Rıfkı Atay, a member of the committee, learning of the Latin alphabet was more difficult for the literate people, who already used Arabic alphabet than for the illiterate people. He added that if the rate of literacy had not been so low, the alphabet reform would be impossible to apply.

First day of the campaign

The first example of the Nation’s school was set in

Dolmabahçe Palace Dolmabahçe Palace ( ) is a 19th-century imperial palace located in Istanbul, Turkey, along the European shore of the Bosporus, which served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 to 1922. Histor ...

. Beginning by 1 January 1929, many schools were opened all over the country. Mustafa Necati, who was responsible for these schools, died on the very same day the schools opened due to appendicitis. He is now considered as one of the pioneers of the Turkish alphabet.

School regulations

According to regulations, these schools were compulsory for everybody in the age group of 14–45 years. Two courses per week were offered to women while four courses a week were available for men. The duration was 2–4 months depending on the prior education of the participants. The courses were also offered to prisoners. In the 1930s, most villages had no schools. For these villages mobile teaching teams were formed. All participants were expected to pass a final exam to obtain a certificate. The top scoring participant of each school received a signed photo of Atatürk and a book of the Turkish constitution.Serenti page
/ref> Atatürk, who earned the title ''başöğretmen'' (literally "head teacher") actively participated in the Nation’s school program, and taught the new alphabet at his travels.

Conclusion

In the first year, the number of schools, actually classrooms, was 20,487, and the number of participants was 1,075,500. 485,632 men and 111,378 women received certificates.
/ref> At the end of the term in the 1930s, the total number of the graduates reached 1,217,144.

Commemoration

Beginning by 1981, 24 November, being the start day of the project, is commemorated each year as "Teacher's day" in Turkey.

Footnotes

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References

History of education in Turkey 1928 establishments in Turkey 1932 disestablishments in Turkey Literacy