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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Oct 12 2013
Istanbul's schools under the Ottomans
by Niki GAMM
Hürriyet Daily News
>From an educational system that was religiously denominated to a
secular system in the 19th century, Istanbul's schools provided an
education that was often lacking until it became one of the major
reforms initiated to meet the challenge of westernization
Education in the Ottoman Empire was primarily carried out in mekteps
(primary schools) and medreses (higher schools) usually attached to
mosques, the palace school and various bureaucratic offices. These
institutions basically produced graduates who ran the government and
these graduates were counted among the elite in the empire as "highly
successful administrators, lawyers, commanders as well as physicians
and architects," according to Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu in his
two-volume "History of the Ottoman State, Society & Civilization." He
adds that most of these graduates were frequently connected with one
or another of the mystic sects that flourished throughout the Ottoman
Empire and this training led them to be liberal and tolerant.
Many, if not most schools that still exist today in Istanbul were
established in the nineteenth century because of the importance that
the sultans of the time gave to the provision of education that would
be on a level of that in Europe. There was at the same time
recognition that the system that had stood the empire in good stead
since the fourteenth century was no longer providing the quality
needed, especially for students to go on to technical studies. Sultan
Mahmut II (r. 1808-1839) undertook a number of reforms regarding the
law and taxation in addition to abolishing the Janissary troops. He
also introduced a second educational system while leaving the
mosque-attached system in place.
Mahmut II established a system whereby young men could graduate from
primary school and continue with classes that would prepare them to
enter technical schools that belonged to the military. Two such
schools were opened at Süleymaniye and Sultan Ahmet mosques. Similarly
three schools were opened for bureaucrats who wanted to serve in the
government or were already doing so and were looking for ways to
advance in their departments.
The sultan also reinvigorated the schools that were responsible for
higher technical education, such as the Naval and Army Engineering
Schools. In addition, he had a number of promising students sent to
European schools to study and these were expected to return to Turkey
to work as instructors and/or officers in the army. The sultan also
urged these students to create words in Ottoman Turkish which would
correspond to the terms used in European schools. A medical school was
also established that was expected to provide education more along
European lines although it lacked textbooks and equipment. There was
even a new school for military sciences. While there were still
serious shortcomings, at least these changes laid the basis for more
important reforms in the ensuing years.
Many of the men who wanted to reform the Ottoman Empire in the
nineteenth century had studied abroad, usually in France or Germany.
This period in time has been called the Tanzimat (Reorganization of
the Ottoman Empire) following a proclamation in 1839 that instituted a
whole series of reforms, including a Council of Public Instruction
(est. in 1845) and a Ministry of Education (est. in 1847). However,
the educational system only developed haphazardly since school systems
were run in different ways by the state, the religious minorities
various foreign institutions and schools were built with local funds.
Abdulhamid II took education in hand
Sultan Abdulhamid II took the educational system in hand with his
reform program of 1879 although results were obtained until tax
revenue was directed at education starting from 1883 and an effort was
made to spread these funds throughout the entire empire. Nor were
there many qualified teachers even for elementary schools so students
in these didn't learn enough to benefit from the higher education
offered in technical schools.
By far the largest number of elementary schools in the empire was
Greek Orthodox and consisted of 4390 schools out of a total of 5982
non-Muslim schools in 1897. Foreign missionaries ran 246 elementary
schools. Over time the system as a whole improved, especially when
local educational councils which knew their own situation were given
control over their schools rather than having to deal with directives
from Istanbul.
"Perhaps the most serious damage came from the fragmented nature of
the system. The state schools, the millet (religious minority)
schools, and the foreign schools gave their students entirely
different ways of thinking, with different methods and objectives, and
produced several educated classes, parallel to one another yet
hostile, unable to understand or appreciate each other, preventing the
kind of national unity and cohesiveness needed to hold the empire
together." [Shaw and Shaw, "History of the Ottoman Empire and the Rise
of Modern Turkey"]
Shaw and Shaw also provide interesting statistics for the number of
minority students in the second half of the nineteenth century. "The
desire for education among the Christian minorities is also evident
from their occupying 52 percent of all the student openings available
in the city despite their smaller numbers. Forty-one percent of the
Greeks and 38.6 percent of the Armenians, while only 36 percent of the
Muslims and Jews were occupied in this way."
Kültür AŞ has recently published an illustrated book entitled
"Istanbul'un 100 Okulu (Istanbul's 100 Schools) by Derya Bas that
provides information on the many schools over the years that belonged
to minority communities, foreign missionaries and even to tribes. Each
entry, in alphabetic order, tells about the founding of the school,
their educational system, their history and their architecture. The
book serves as a guide to the city's heritage in the educational field
and the various changes that have occurred over time.
Time of Tanzimat
At the time of the Tanzimat, there were the medreses, the Özel Fener
Rum Lisesi, Istanbul University and the Davutpaşa Lisesi, which had
been established as a privately endowed primary school in 1485.
The Özel Fener Rum Lisesi was originally established in 1454 with the
permission of Fatih Sultan Mehmed. It was known as the Patriarchate
Academy and continued to serve the Greek Orthodox community until 1861
when it was converted into a classic lycee. The school moved several
times until 1883 when it settled in the so-called "Red School" that
distinctively commands a view of the Golden Horn - the building is
made of red brick.
The Armenian community, on the other hand, only had a primary school
in the 1860s when it was decided that there should be a high school
during the term of Armenian Patriarch, Nerses Varjabetyan. So the Özel
Getronagan Ermeni Lisesi was finally established in 1886.
Boğaziçi University for instance was started by missionaries as a
modest college in 1863 and 150 years later is considered among the
best universities in the world. Its journey over time is related in
the book as are the journeys of 99 other schools.
The author has provided snippets of information for all the entries
that are in alphabetic order in easy-to-read Turkish. It readily
serves as a guide for those who are curious about the non-Muslim
schools of earlier times.
October/12/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/istanbuls-schools-under-the-ottomans.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56102&NewsCatID=438
Oct 12 2013
Istanbul's schools under the Ottomans
by Niki GAMM
Hürriyet Daily News
>From an educational system that was religiously denominated to a
secular system in the 19th century, Istanbul's schools provided an
education that was often lacking until it became one of the major
reforms initiated to meet the challenge of westernization
Education in the Ottoman Empire was primarily carried out in mekteps
(primary schools) and medreses (higher schools) usually attached to
mosques, the palace school and various bureaucratic offices. These
institutions basically produced graduates who ran the government and
these graduates were counted among the elite in the empire as "highly
successful administrators, lawyers, commanders as well as physicians
and architects," according to Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu in his
two-volume "History of the Ottoman State, Society & Civilization." He
adds that most of these graduates were frequently connected with one
or another of the mystic sects that flourished throughout the Ottoman
Empire and this training led them to be liberal and tolerant.
Many, if not most schools that still exist today in Istanbul were
established in the nineteenth century because of the importance that
the sultans of the time gave to the provision of education that would
be on a level of that in Europe. There was at the same time
recognition that the system that had stood the empire in good stead
since the fourteenth century was no longer providing the quality
needed, especially for students to go on to technical studies. Sultan
Mahmut II (r. 1808-1839) undertook a number of reforms regarding the
law and taxation in addition to abolishing the Janissary troops. He
also introduced a second educational system while leaving the
mosque-attached system in place.
Mahmut II established a system whereby young men could graduate from
primary school and continue with classes that would prepare them to
enter technical schools that belonged to the military. Two such
schools were opened at Süleymaniye and Sultan Ahmet mosques. Similarly
three schools were opened for bureaucrats who wanted to serve in the
government or were already doing so and were looking for ways to
advance in their departments.
The sultan also reinvigorated the schools that were responsible for
higher technical education, such as the Naval and Army Engineering
Schools. In addition, he had a number of promising students sent to
European schools to study and these were expected to return to Turkey
to work as instructors and/or officers in the army. The sultan also
urged these students to create words in Ottoman Turkish which would
correspond to the terms used in European schools. A medical school was
also established that was expected to provide education more along
European lines although it lacked textbooks and equipment. There was
even a new school for military sciences. While there were still
serious shortcomings, at least these changes laid the basis for more
important reforms in the ensuing years.
Many of the men who wanted to reform the Ottoman Empire in the
nineteenth century had studied abroad, usually in France or Germany.
This period in time has been called the Tanzimat (Reorganization of
the Ottoman Empire) following a proclamation in 1839 that instituted a
whole series of reforms, including a Council of Public Instruction
(est. in 1845) and a Ministry of Education (est. in 1847). However,
the educational system only developed haphazardly since school systems
were run in different ways by the state, the religious minorities
various foreign institutions and schools were built with local funds.
Abdulhamid II took education in hand
Sultan Abdulhamid II took the educational system in hand with his
reform program of 1879 although results were obtained until tax
revenue was directed at education starting from 1883 and an effort was
made to spread these funds throughout the entire empire. Nor were
there many qualified teachers even for elementary schools so students
in these didn't learn enough to benefit from the higher education
offered in technical schools.
By far the largest number of elementary schools in the empire was
Greek Orthodox and consisted of 4390 schools out of a total of 5982
non-Muslim schools in 1897. Foreign missionaries ran 246 elementary
schools. Over time the system as a whole improved, especially when
local educational councils which knew their own situation were given
control over their schools rather than having to deal with directives
from Istanbul.
"Perhaps the most serious damage came from the fragmented nature of
the system. The state schools, the millet (religious minority)
schools, and the foreign schools gave their students entirely
different ways of thinking, with different methods and objectives, and
produced several educated classes, parallel to one another yet
hostile, unable to understand or appreciate each other, preventing the
kind of national unity and cohesiveness needed to hold the empire
together." [Shaw and Shaw, "History of the Ottoman Empire and the Rise
of Modern Turkey"]
Shaw and Shaw also provide interesting statistics for the number of
minority students in the second half of the nineteenth century. "The
desire for education among the Christian minorities is also evident
from their occupying 52 percent of all the student openings available
in the city despite their smaller numbers. Forty-one percent of the
Greeks and 38.6 percent of the Armenians, while only 36 percent of the
Muslims and Jews were occupied in this way."
Kültür AŞ has recently published an illustrated book entitled
"Istanbul'un 100 Okulu (Istanbul's 100 Schools) by Derya Bas that
provides information on the many schools over the years that belonged
to minority communities, foreign missionaries and even to tribes. Each
entry, in alphabetic order, tells about the founding of the school,
their educational system, their history and their architecture. The
book serves as a guide to the city's heritage in the educational field
and the various changes that have occurred over time.
Time of Tanzimat
At the time of the Tanzimat, there were the medreses, the Özel Fener
Rum Lisesi, Istanbul University and the Davutpaşa Lisesi, which had
been established as a privately endowed primary school in 1485.
The Özel Fener Rum Lisesi was originally established in 1454 with the
permission of Fatih Sultan Mehmed. It was known as the Patriarchate
Academy and continued to serve the Greek Orthodox community until 1861
when it was converted into a classic lycee. The school moved several
times until 1883 when it settled in the so-called "Red School" that
distinctively commands a view of the Golden Horn - the building is
made of red brick.
The Armenian community, on the other hand, only had a primary school
in the 1860s when it was decided that there should be a high school
during the term of Armenian Patriarch, Nerses Varjabetyan. So the Özel
Getronagan Ermeni Lisesi was finally established in 1886.
Boğaziçi University for instance was started by missionaries as a
modest college in 1863 and 150 years later is considered among the
best universities in the world. Its journey over time is related in
the book as are the journeys of 99 other schools.
The author has provided snippets of information for all the entries
that are in alphabetic order in easy-to-read Turkish. It readily
serves as a guide for those who are curious about the non-Muslim
schools of earlier times.
October/12/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/istanbuls-schools-under-the-ottomans.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56102&NewsCatID=438