Abstract
Primary School Programs from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey (1870-1936)
In the Ottoman Empire, the primary level schools had been called “Sıbyan Mektebi”, local school or stone school. At those schools whose primary aim was to teach the Koran, education of religion and literacy, the most used teaching method had been memorizing. Although those schools established depending on foundations could meet the needs at the first periods of the Ottoman Empire, they couldn't keep pace with the changing situations.
Although the reform of the "Sıbyan Mektebi" had been the current issue at the beginnings of the 19th century, the Ottoman primary education system had undergone major changes especially since 1870s. In this process, the “Sıbyan” schools were converted into “İptadie”s; modern teaching methods called “usul-i cedide” (new method) and several new course materials such as desk, black board, chalk, map, globe and teacher lectern were begun to be used. With the Maarif-i Umumiye Regulation accepted in 1869, that courses such as usul-i cedide with elifba, Koran, tecvit, ethics, catechism, writing, calculation, history of the Ottoman, geography, knowledge of public works would take place and that the duration of primary education would be four years were proposed. After that regulation, different programs were prepared as three years for city and for town iptidais and as four years for rural schools. At those programs, lessons such as history, geography, calculation, sarf-ı Osmani, orthography, reading and calligraphy were added and subjects of the lessons were included as well as the explanation of the courses. Thus it is possible to qualify those programs as first detailed primary school programs.
With the Act of Tedrisat-ı İptidaiye, in 1913, the duration of the primary school was increased and it became six years. The last primary school programs of the Ottoman according to that law belonged to years 1913-1914. Courses such as handicrafts-art, music, physical education, health education were put into the program for the first time and at that time these changes should be seen as an important step for Ottomans in that time. Also nationalism in education stood out as general character of the period. With courses like language of the Ottoman, history and geography, it was desired that patriotism and nationalism were instilled to children. In the early years of the Republic, the meaning of the primary education was changed and after all it was aimed to educate citizen who was appropriate for the qualifications of the Republic. Accordi
Keywords
Ottoman Empire, the Primary Program, the Republic of Turkey.