Nationwide Literacy Campaign Initiated By Community Centers Andcase of Bitlis Community Center

Abstract

In the context of the new order that was started with the republic, the reforms of the alphabet, the language, and culture were especially important. As it is well-known, the Turkish Alphabet was accepted on November 1, 1928 and was based on the Latin Language. Then, on November 24, 1928, it was decided that schools with the name of “Schools of the Nation” would be opened to spread literacy and the new alphabet. The “Schools of the Nation”, for whom the president and the head teacher was Atatürk, started education on January 1, 1929. Those who graduated from these schools, which had two steps, were given literacy certificate. “Schools of the Nation” made over one million people acquire literacy in Turkey within a short time period. However, the education was limited in these existing educational institutions, and new institutions were needed. The Community Centers, which were founded in 1932, undertook important missions to serve this purpose. The Community Centers were indispensable corporate institutions of the literacy campaign in early period of Turkish Republic, and achieved remarkable success with the literacy courses they opened in The Community Courses and Courses Branch. Document analysis was used as a model in research.Document analysis model, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used in order to evaluate the literacy courses and the results obtained in Bitlis and in the region. Because, according to the frequency of use as a data collection technique in qualitative research, observation and written documentation and documentation methods are used respectively. It was asked in the instructions sent to The Community Centers by the secretary general of the CHP that courses would be opened and every citizen who could not attend schools would be taught how to read in these areas. As it was the case all over the country, a literacy campaign was also started in Community Centerin Bitlis province, and these centers taught the locals how to read and write. Between 1932-1951, more than five thousand individuals learned to read and write in the Bitlis Community Center. Starting from this study made of the Early Republic Period community centers operating as formal education institutions in Turkey concluded that the impact on the literacy rate of the population.