Keynote Speech by Cengiz ÖKSÜZ, New Generation Village Institutes Istanbul Branch | YKKED.Org.Tr

INTRODUCTION:
The following keynote speech was delivered in Turkish by Cengiz Öksüz at the “Village Institutes in Turkey: A Unique Education Model” virtual event on April 19, 2025, commemorating the 85th anniversary of these pivotal institutions. Mr. Öksüz provided a comprehensive historical and socio-economic context for their emergence. He vividly depicted Turkey in the 1930s and 1940s, a nation where rural life was characterized by antiquated agricultural practices using the Hittite-era “karasaban” plow, the absence of modern farming equipment like tractors, reliance on animal power for field work and transportation, and even the scarcity of basic tools such as axes, saws, and nails in villages. The lack of infrastructure, particularly roads connecting rural areas to urban centers, severely hampered the marketing of agricultural produce.
The event was led by the Light Millennium Global and Işık Binyılı Association, along wıth content and outreach contributions by the World Ataturk Platform and American-Turkish Women League, along with the New York Ataturk School.

The full speech in Turkish

THE VILLAGE INSTITUTES OF TÜRKİYE:
An Original Education Model

[LMGlobal.Org] The Village Institutes were educational institutions established in Türkiye in the 1930s and 1940s, tailored to the economic and social conditions of the time. In those years, land in Turkish villages was tilled with the “karasaban,” a plow dating back to the Hittite era. Tractors and plows were non-existent. Fields were plowed by animal power, and transportation was also animal-based. Even finding essential tools like axes, hatchets, saws, and nails in villages was nearly impossible. Production could not be marketed because there were no proper roads, even between cities.

In the 1930s and 1940s, 35,000 out of 40,000 villages had no schools. Most of the existing schools offered only three years of education, and the majority of their teachers were not graduates of teacher training schools. Only one-third of the 1.5 million school-aged children could attend school. At the rate of teacher training school graduates, it would have taken three hundred years to send teachers to all the villages.

The rote learning system introduced in the villages did not attract the interest of the villagers because this education was not useful for them. Village children would forget the reading, writing, and basic arithmetic skills they learned after a while. When students raised in cities were appointed as teachers to villages, they could not adapt to village life. The economic and social life of the village was not suitable for them. Therefore, teachers appointed to villages would start looking for ways to get appointed to a city. The content of the curriculum and books was also not suitable for the village.

In 1935, the 4th Congress of the ruling party, the CHP, was convened. The issue of education in villages was placed at the top of the agenda at this congress. In those years, congresses lasted for several days. The problem of education in villages was discussed for days, as well as in the evenings. The existing statistics were far from encouraging. Twelve years after the declaration of the Republic, sufficient teachers had not been sent to the villages. This meant that the people the Republic needed to raise had also not been raised. The Republic could not survive without raising its protectors. This was a great danger.

Immediately after the 1935 Congress, Atatürk appointed his comrade-in-arms, Saffet Arıkan, as the Minister of National Education. Saffet Arıkan began to brainstorm with Ministry officials about education in villages. It was at that very moment that İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, a Department of Fine Arts Education in the Division of Arts Education teacher and Deputy Director at Gazi Faculty of Education, was recommended to Saffet Arıkan. Arıkan invited him to the Ministry and asked him to read and evaluate the CHP’s congress report on education in villages. Tonguç found the report unrealistic. Saffet Arıkan was upset by this response but said nothing, simply stating, “Why don’t you write us a report then?”

Instructor Courses

One evening, when Saffet Arıkan mentioned that they had not yet solved education in villages, Atatürk said to Arıkan, “Let’s take the village children who have done their military service as sergeants and corporals into a few months’ course, teach them basic arithmetic, and send these young people back to their villages.” Arıkan discussed the matter with Tonguç. Tonguç toured the villages of Inner Anatolia and spoke with the villagers who had served as sergeants and corporals. He observed that they were literate and also knew basic arithmetic. In July 1936, the first Instructor Course was opened in Mahmudiye village, affiliated with the Çifteler district of Eskişehir. The course lasted four and a half months and yielded good results. In the course, instructor candidates were also given practical agriculture lessons.

Tonguç presented his report on education in villages to Saffet Arıkan. Atatürk, İsmet İnönü, and Arıkan reviewed the report one night and decided to implement it. The report proposed a new understanding of education. Education in the village would be geared towards production; that is, it would be through and within work. Education would change the economic and social life of the village. In addition to making the villagers literate, education would guide and set an example for the villagers in the production process. It would lead to the introduction of modern agriculture to the village. Educated village children would become conscious individuals of the Republic.

Village Teacher Schools

In 1937, Instructor Courses were opened in eleven locations across Türkiye. In the same year, Village Teacher Schools were also opened in two locations where Instructor Course campuses were situated. In 1938, the number of Instructor Courses increased further, and alongside the Çifteler and Kızılçullu Teacher Schools, a Village Teacher School was also opened in Thrace (Trakya). At the end of the same year, the Kastamonu Göl Village Teacher School was opened. By 1940, Instructor Courses had spread across the country, and four Village Teacher Schools continued their education and training activities on Instructor campuses.

Village Institutes

On April 17, 1940, the Village Institutes Law was passed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly (#TBMM). This law decided to open 10 Village Institutes that year. The four previously opened Village Teacher Schools were also renamed Village Institutes.

As can be seen, the Village Institutes were not opened all at once. The education to be implemented in the institutes was first tested in the Instructor Courses, then applied in the Village Teacher Schools, and after four years of experimentation and implementation, the initiative for education in villages gave birth to the Village Institutes. The institutes are the product of an experience.

The first article of the Law on the Opening of Village Institutes, passed by the TBMM on April 17, 1940, states, “To train useful personnel for the village.” In this article, they combined training useful personnel for the village with teacher training. When we read the first article of the Law, we see that the Institutes did not only aim to train teachers. When we move on to the other articles of the Law, we learn that education in the village will be done through and within work, and practically. The person to be sent to the village, in addition to being a teacher, will also perform the duties of a blacksmith, builder, farmer, and beekeeper, as desired by the village, and will even know basic health rules. Thus, the village will be revitalized from within by its people. Students to be admitted to the Village Institutes were required to be graduates of village schools. Students who had studied in towns and cities were not admitted to the institutes.

As İsmail Hakkı Tonguç emphasized in his book “The Village to Be Revitalized,” the Village Institutes aimed to revitalize the village from within. The village would be revitalized by its people. The student would be taken from the village, and with five years of education and training, the village child would gain other professions besides teaching. The young person, transformed in this way without being alienated from his village, would then be sent back to where he came from, the village. The teacher appointed to the village would thus not only teach “abc” but would also be concerned with the problems of the village he lived in, such as production, animal husbandry, cooperatives, afforestation, roads, water, modern agriculture, and health. Production in the village would revive, and the villager would gain an organization (cooperative) to sell their products at their true value in the market. As Tonguç said, the villagers would no longer be used like beasts of burden by anyone.

Establishment and Settlement

The Village Institutes were opened in 20 rural regions of Türkiye. The locations where the institutes were opened were far from settlements. Proximity to a riverbank, railway, and the possibility of dry and irrigated farming were priorities in the opening. An institute was also opened by the sea in Beşikdüzü, Trabzon, on land without soil. Fishing was also carried out here.

While some of the institutes were opened on the campuses of the Instructor Courses, some started with tents. The tents were set up by the students. In many institutes, there were no buildings for the students to stay in when they arrived. Students and teachers together built their dormitories and dining halls and moved into these shelters before winter came. More time was allocated to construction on days when the weather was clear. In the winter months, emphasis was placed on cultural lessons.

By 1945, the number of institutes had reached twenty. Each institute was taking students from three, four, or five surrounding provinces. During this time, the institutes also built their barns, henhouses, apiaries, vineyards, and gardens. Some started dry farming, while others started irrigated farming. Fruit and vegetable gardens were opened and expanded. Acres of land were cultivated. Large and small livestock were raised. By 1946, many institutes had become self-sufficient. Beekeeping, cheesemaking, fishing, and fruit growing became widespread. The institutes began to set an example for the surrounding villages. They gave them seed wheat and fruit saplings. The institutes built more than seven hundred buildings.

Democratic – Secular Education

Democratic – secular education was implemented in the Village Institutes. These institutions were the first in Türkiye to have co-educational boarding schools. Until that time, co-educational boarding schools had not been established in cities and towns in Türkiye. Co-education was only introduced in high schools in 1930. There were girls’ high schools and boys’ high schools in our country, but there were no co-educational boarding schools.

Let’s elaborate on the issue of democratic education: When students arrived, they were immediately divided into groups. Each group had a teacher in charge. At the head of these groups were also students acting as group leaders. Each week, one group was on duty. Apart from a few staff members acting as master trainers and employees handling tasks such as cooking, there was no one else at the school. The group on duty was responsible for the entire administration of the institution. For one week, the maintenance and cleaning of areas such as the dining hall, dormitory, apiary, henhouse, infirmary, and classrooms were the responsibility of the group on duty. At the end of the week, after the flag ceremony or before the entertainment programs held on Saturday evenings, weekly evaluation meetings were held, and students would criticize the shortcomings and deficiencies they observed that week without hesitation or fear. The teachers on duty that week, and even the principal of the institution, would also get their share of these criticisms. The meeting was chaired by a student elected at that time.

There were 44 hours of lessons per week in the institutes. 22 hours of this time were allocated to cultural lessons, and 22 hours were allocated to agricultural-technical lessons. Agricultural and technical lessons were 11+11 = 22 hours. Lesson hours were flexible. When a building needed to be completed quickly or when it was harvest time, more intensive time was given to work-technical lessons; however, the lesson hours that needed to be covered by the end of the year were equalized. In winter conditions, the emphasis was on cultural lessons.

The institutes admitted students after 5 years of primary school and provided an additional 5 years of education. Students who had studied up to the 3rd grade in village schools with instructors were also admitted to preparatory courses, and after completing the 4th and 5th grades in these courses, they were accepted. A practice school was opened in each institute. Final-year students taught in the practice classes.

Each student had the right to 45 days of annual leave. Since this period was implemented rotationally, the institution was always open. Unlike other educational institutions, there was no summer vacation; the institution was always open. Students would take their 45 days of annual leave and return. While a student was on leave, their friends, whose turn for leave had not yet come, would carry out the necessary tasks without disruption. Thus, the education and training program in the institution always continued.

While the work-based training implemented in the institutes started in 1937, the program was published in 1943. The reason for this is as follows: The products produced by the institutes, which were opened in 20 different locations with varying climatic characteristics (the 21st Village Institute was opened in Van under the name Ernis Village Institute in 1948), also differed from each other. Some institutes practiced dry farming, while others practiced irrigated farming. While the Aksu Village Institute in Antalya focused on citrus production, the Cilavuz Village Institute in Kars focused on cattle breeding, the Beşikdüzü Village Institute in Trabzon on fishing, and the Akçadağ Village Institute in Malatya on apricot production. The Village Institutes Program emerged from observation and practice, not written at a desk; therefore, it was flexible.

While all male and female students took common agriculture and technical lessons in the 1st grade, in the second grade, emphasis was placed on weaving, dressmaking, and home economics for female students. Male students, on the other hand, specialized in areas such as construction, blacksmithing, and carpentry from the 2nd grade onwards. Each specialization had large workshops. In the 22 hours of agricultural-technical lessons, students produced the necessary tools and equipment for the institution in these workshops. The practice of separating students into specialization areas was abolished in the 1947 Program.

In agriculture lessons and the construction of buildings, female students were together with male students. They jointly performed tasks such as mixing mortar and carrying bricks and materials. All institute students were together in matters such as planting saplings, hoeing, grafting trees, and animal health. They worked together during harvest time because cultural lessons were also necessarily suspended. Winter preparations were also done together. Cultural lessons were also taught together. When weather conditions were suitable, lessons were held outdoors. Female students undertook all the sewing work of the institution. From sewing curtains, sheets, and duvet covers to making their own and men’s underwear, as well as tasks such as mending tears and holes, were their responsibility. There was no gender discrimination in the Village Institutes. Students were elected to all duties, male and female, and had equal authority and responsibility. Meals were eaten by both genders at the same tables, together with the teachers. The dormitory buildings for female students were separate.

In the institutes, students would get up at six in the morning, and after preparation and cleaning, they would gather in the institution’s area without distinction, do sports accompanied by music, and play folk dances. After breakfast, lessons would begin. Students with cultural lessons would go to classrooms, while those with agricultural-technical lessons would go to their respective areas.

Beating and ill-treatment were prohibited in the institutions. İsmail Hakkı Tonguç had sent a circular to all school administrators on this matter. Tonguç had also requested that the circular he sent be written in all students’ notebooks. A student who was slapped by their teacher also had the right to slap their teacher. Teachers treated students like adults. Institute teachers were not only the students’ teachers but also like their fathers and mothers. Teachers would take turns in the dormitory, dining hall, and classroom with the students. Female teachers would be on duty in the buildings for female students.

Music, painting-work, and physical education were among the highly valued lessons in the institutes. Each institution had enough musical instruments for the students. Some institutes made their musical instruments. The mandolin was the basic musical instrument. Students would play the mandolin under a tree or by a wall during their free study time outside of lessons. Every student needed to be able to play a musical instrument upon graduation. Master instructors were hired for folk dances and folk songs. Aşık Veysel worked as a teacher in these institutions. Students studying at the 20 Village Institutes would play all the folk dances of our country. Great importance was attached to physical development, and sports competitions were organized from time to time.

No educational institution in Türkıye has attached as much importance to reading books as the Village Institutes. Reading books was compulsory in the institutes. There were free reading hours outside of lessons. The books translated into our language by the Translation Bureau established by the Ministry of National Education in those years were first read by Village Institute students. For this reason, nearly 150 writers, artists, and scientists emerged from the institutes, whose original program lasted only 6 years. Many famous story writers and novelists of our country were educated in the Village Institutes during this period. Fakir Baykurt, Mahmut Makal, Mehmet Başaran, Talip Apaydın, Dursun Akçam… are among the first that come to mind. Every student was required to read 24 books a year. Those who read many books were rewarded.

Each class would organize Saturday entertainments. Every student would take part in these entertainments. İsmail Hakkı Tonguç attached great importance to Saturday entertainments. There was no high stage in these entertainments. Every student would participate in an activity that showcased their talent that evening. No student would remain a spectator. All students were both audience and performers. Those who wrote poetry would read their poems, some would take part in plays they wrote themselves, there would be those who performed folk plays from their villages, and those who played musical instruments would give concerts. In these meetings, students would freely evaluate the work done that week and express any shortcomings they observed.

The institutes attached great importance to the personal development of students. When İsmail Hakkı Tonguç went to İvriz Village Institute, he would enter a class and, with the teacher’s permission, ask a student, “What are the duties of the state towards its citizens?” The student could not speak. Turning to the teacher, he would say, “Make them speak. They haven’t been speaking for six centuries.” Mahmut Makal, who could not speak in front of Tonguç, became famous not only in our country but also in the world with his book “Bizim Köy” (Our Village), which he wrote in 1950.

Over the years, the institutes brought water and electricity to their campuses and built roads. They owned thousands of acres of land and grew fruits and vegetables. They distributed surplus products to neighboring villages. The Beşikdüzü Village Institute sold the fish it caught from the Black Sea cheaply to the public, processed the fish, and established businesses for this purpose. Apricot cultivation developed in Malatya Akçadağ, citrus fruits in Antalya Aksu, cheesemaking and animal husbandry in Kars Cilavuz, and beekeeping in Kastamonu Göl Village. They distributed saplings and seed wheat to the villagers. They worked to improve animal breeds. They set an example for their surroundings. The teachers appointed to the villages became the health officers of the villages they went to. The institutes also provided practical health information to their students. In addition, Health Branches were opened in 7 institutes. Six thousand health officers were trained from these institutes. The Health Branches were closed in 6 institutes with the 1947 Program. The one in Hasanoğlan Village, called Hasanoğlan Village Institute, was also closed in 1950.

What Was Achieved

The Law on Village Institutes was passed by the TBMM on April 17, 1940. The Organization Law No. 4274 for these institutions was published in 1942. Their curricula were introduced in 1943. The institutions began to deteriorate in 1946, and the 1943 Program was abolished in 1947. The 1947 Program was not the original program of the Village Institutes. With this program, agricultural and technical lessons were reduced, and work-based learning was terminated. Rote learning now became dominant in the Village Institutes as well. In 1953, the Village Institutes’ program was merged with the program of Teacher Schools, and in 1954, these institutions were closed down.

These institutions, whose original program lasted only six years and were still in the establishment phase, built over seven hundred buildings in a short time. They afforested, sowed, planted, and harvested thousands of acres of land; they raised small and large livestock. Some engaged in beekeeping and silkworm cultivation. They brought water and electricity to the institutes. They transitioned to mechanized agriculture… Most became self-sufficient. They trained 17,000 teachers, 1,599 health officers, and 8,765 instructors. The total amount spent from the state budget for all this was 51 million Turkish Lira. Some of these institutions had printing presses and did their printing work. Most of the institutes publish literature and art magazines. If the program had continued, there would have been no schoolless or teacherless villages in Turkiye by 1955.

The Hasanoğlan Village Institute, which was opened in 1942 to train teachers and administrators for the Village Institutes, was closed in 1947. During this period, 234 teachers graduated from the Hasanoğlan Higher Village Institute. These university graduates were taken from the institutes where they were appointed in 1947 and hastily drafted into the military. Twenty-eight of them were made sergeants.

If village children had not been prevented from receiving education from primary to higher levels, our situation today would have been very different. After 1947, the revitalization of the village and the education of village children were no longer desired.

The Village Institutes were unique institutions, established according to the concrete realities of Türkiye at that time. In those days, the village needed builders, blacksmiths, carpenters, farmers, technical personnel, beekeepers, and health workers in addition to teachers. The institutes had begun to train these personnel that the village needed, but unfortunately, they were stifled very early.

No country in the world has been able to create an educational breakthrough like the Village Institutes. For this reason, İsmail Hakkı Tonguç is “An Education Revolutionary.” In the Education Encyclopedia published in three volumes in Switzerland in 1950, Tonguç also took his rightful place as an education revolutionary.

Cengiz Öksüz, New Generation Village Institutes Istanbul Branch.
Virtually presented on April 19, 2025.
The full speech in Turkish

Sources:

• İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, Canlandırılacak Köy (The Village to Be Revitalized), İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları
• İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, Mektuplarla Köy Enstitüsü Yılları (Village Institute Years Through Letters), Çağdaş Yayınları
• Engin Tonguç, Bir Eğitim Devrimcisi/ İsmail Hakkı Tonguç (An Education Revolutionary/ İsmail Hakkı Tonguç), YKKED Yayını
• Pakize Türkoğlu, Tonguç Ve Enstitüleri (Tonguç and His Institutes), İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları
• Niyazi Altunya, Köy Enstitüsü Sistemine Toplu Bir Bakış (A Comprehensive Look at the Village Institute System)

Disclosure: The above translation of the Keynote from Turkish to English was made through Gemini/LLM. – LMGlobal.Org

EDUCATIONAL APPROACH IN THE VILLAGE INSTITUTES by Cengiz Öksüz
President of the Istanbul Branch of the New Generation Village Institutes Association
Presented by Prof. Alp Yücel KAYA virtually on January 25, 2025.

Village Institute Image: Google search.

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