Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
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Shah Sultan Primary School
picture located at Eyup, Istanbul
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This
short article based on Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu's article "Ottoman Educational
and Scholarly-Scientific Institutions", History of The Ottoman State
and Society and Civilisation (Edited by E. Ihsanoglu), Istanbul 2002, Vol.
II, pp. 361-512.
Elementary
education and teaching in the Ottoman Empire were conducted in primary schools
(sibyan mektepleri). These schools, established for the education of
children, were a continuation of the schools known as küttâb in Islam.
They were also referred to as dar al-talim, dar al-huffaz, tash
maktab or just maktab (school).
The
Classical Period
These
primary schools were generally founded by elite ranked statesmen or sultans and
located within mosque complexes (külliye), adjacent to a mosque or in a
separate structure. Because they demanded little in terms of investment in
finance and space they were to be found in every village, every neighbourhood
and every district. In addition, depending upon the specifics of their charters,
such schools might be coeducational or have separate buildings for girls and
boys. Though the principles governing the workings of these schools, which were
established and managed as waqfs, were laid out in their charters they shared
many common approaches to education.
Children
who reached the age of five would begin their education in these schools with a
very lively ceremony known as âmin alayi or bed'-i besmele. As
far as we can determine there were no acceptance or registration procedures for
these schools. The children from all Muslim families had the right to attend
the schools. The teachers were selected from among individuals who had some madrasa
education or literate imams, muezzins, mosque caretakers and the
like. In addition, if it had been so specified in the school charter,
calligraphy instructors would be hired for writing classes.[1]
In the coeducational or girls' schools, classes would be taught by
knowledgeable and experienced female teachers who had reached a certain age and
who had memorized the Qur'an.
It is not
known whether or not the primary schools had formally prepared curricula. It
is, however, possible to provide certain information about their classes based
on the terms of their charters or on the basis of regulations laid down from
time to time.[2]
The overriding purpose of these schools was to teach reading and writing to
children and to have them learn the basics of the Islamic religion and the
Qur'an. As a result, an effort would be made to teach the children the
alphabet, to instruct them in the Qur'an, to have them memorize certain suras, to
teach them the basic principles of Islam, Qur'an recitation, penmanship and to
instruct them in the four basic arithmetical procedures known as kara cümle.
In addition, they would also be asked to read certain poetic dictionaries
in Arabic and Persian (lügatlar) such as the Sübha-i Sibyan and Tuhfe-i
Vehbî, which became classics during the eighteenth century in order to
facilitate their learning. Though there are various views concerning the
language of instruction of these primary schools, it is generally accepted that
the native language of the students was used. Though no age for graduation is
indicated, there was a requirement that every pupil read the Qur'an from cover
to cover at least once in order to graduate.[3]
Primary
Education and Primary Schools after the Tanzimat Period
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Ragip Pasha Primary School picture located at
Laleli, Istanbul
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During the
reign of Sultan Mahmûd II, thought was given for the first time to reform of
civilian schools as well as those for the military. It was in this context that
in 1824 the situation of the primary (sibyan) schools, which continued
to function along classical Ottoman educational lines, was taken up for
consideration. Mahmûd II issued an edict pertaining to "Primary
Education" (Tâlim-i Sibyan) that same year which outlined the
principles, which should govern young children's education. Accordingly it was
recommended that children be sent to school rather than serving as apprentices
and that, furthermore, they continue in school until they reached puberty. This
edict, which only pertained to Istanbul, included certain sanctions. Because of
the influence the madrasas had over the primary schools the
administration of such schools was left to the office of the Shaykh al-Islam.[4]
In 1838
Sultan Mahmûd II undertook another improvement in the area of primary
education. To that end, the General Council for Public Works (Meclis-i
Umûr-i Nâfia) prepared a report, which Mahmûd approved with a few changes.
The main purpose of the report was to bring about a reform of primary education.
Among the articles of the report, perhaps the most important of them, was the
one, which viewed the educational system as a whole and called for a harmonious
interrelationship among all levels.
The
report largely puts forth proposals of a general nature rather than ones with a
specific focus. Accordingly, certain instructions of an advisory nature were
made with regard to matters such as required attendance, the system of classes,
the opening of boarding schools for orphans and the monitoring of teachers.
Leaving the administration of the schools to the office of the Shaykh
al-Islam, however, constituted a barrier to the realization of the desired
changes.
Sultan
Abdülmecîd began the first efforts at primary school reform during the Tanzimat
period in 1845. The imperial edict proclaimed at that time called for an end to
ignorance and an improvement of public comportment in the country. In 1845 the
Provisional Council prepared a report which in sum called for the
reorganization of the existing primary schools. The report included articles
pertaining, among other things, to first initiating the reforms at the local
school level, providing instructions to the teachers in the existing schools
for each of the classes they were teaching, only having licensed persons
employed as teachers, and the initiation of a system of graded classes and
examinations. The Public Education Council (Meclis-i Maârif-i Umûmî)
began putting these decisions into effect and established a Ministry of Public
Schools (Mekâtib-i Umûmiye Nezâreti) to implement the measures in the
schools and to monitor the situation.
A new era
began with respect to the reform of the primary schools in 1847 with a
directive prepared by the Ministry of Public Schools meant to be a guide for
teachers. According to the directive, the course of education was to be four
years with the primary schools providing the foundation for the middle schools.
Turkish was to be emphasized, education nationalized, blackboards and pens and
pen cases were to be used, and attendance was to be made mandatory.[5]
These decisions were, however, for a variety of reasons, never implemented and
the primary schools continued offering education in the old style. In 1857,
with the founding of the Ministry of Education (Maârif Nezâreti), the
reform of primary schools was once again taken up, but nothing was done in this
respect before 1863. Istanbul was selected as a pilot area and the decisions of
1846 were put into effect. In the meantime some new ideas were in the air, such
as the state paying the salaries of teachers and the provision of free primary
education. The Commission on Muslim Primary Schools (Mekâtib-i Sibyan-i
Müslime Komisyonu) established in 1864 prepared a ten-point set of
regulations for the primary schools. The regulations provided for the following
innovations: the inclusion of penmanship, civics (mâlûmât-i nâfia),
geography and arithmetic among the lessons offered. However, this set of
regulations was also not put into effect.[6]
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Kuyucu Murad Pasha Primary
School picture located at Eyup, Istanbul
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The
reform of the entire educational system, and in that sense the primary school
system, had to wait until the Public Education Regulations (Maârif-i Umûmiye
Nizamnâmesi) of 1869. The sections of the regulations which pertain to
primary schools can be divided into four headings: prescriptions of a general
nature, those pertaining to classes and examinations, those concerning teachers
and those pertaining to financial matters. The prescriptions of a general
nature in the regulations included such things as that at least one primary
school should be opened in each neighbourhood or village offering a four-year
education, that boys be required to attend school between the ages of six and
ten and girls between seven and eleven and that if there were two schools in
one neighbourhood, one should be allocated to boys, the other to girls. Among
the prescriptions pertaining to classes and examinations in the regulations is
one, which prescribes a required curriculum and indicates that such a
curriculum may only be changed with the permission of the Ministry. That
provision also states that examinations should be given in the presence of the
village or neighbourhood council of elders. Teachers were required to be
Ottoman subjects and Men's Normal School (Dâr al-muallimîn) graduates.
The income of these primary schools would come from wakif sources, local
levies (avâriz parasi), estates of those leaving no heirs, Ramazan alms
(fitre), alms (zekât) and monies gained from sales of the skins
of animals which had been sacrificed.
The
reform of primary (sibyan) schools based on the Regulations of 1869 and
the opening of newly reorganized schools called ibtidâî (elementary)
schools began in 1870. This effort targeted the entire empire, not just
Istanbul. As part of this enterprise, books were prepared for the new
elementary schools that were quite different both in terms of format and
content from than those which had been in use to date. The primary schools continued
to provide a traditional sort of education. In order to put into practice and
experiment a little with the newly prepared curriculum, an elementary school
was opened up in 1872 at the Nuruosmâniye Mosque. The implementation of the
Regulations of 1869 began in Rumelia some time after that. Two important points
are notable from a set of instructions also published in the same year. The
first of these pertains to the attempt to turn over the administration of the
primary schools to the local neighbourhood populace. The second concerns the
effort to establish a commission to prepare a guidebook for teachers at the
primary schools. Such things were not however put into practice until the time
of Sultan Abdülhamîd II.
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Iskender Pasha Primary School picture located at
Eyup, Istanbul
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During
the reign of Sultan Abdülhamîd II the question of primary education was given a
place in the Constitution (Kanûn-i Esâsî) of 1876. An article in the
Constitution makes primary education mandatory: "All Ottoman youth shall
be required to complete the first stage of the educational system and the steps
and details with regard to this shall be spelled out in special
regulations." In 1879 a Bureau of Primary Schools (Mekâtib-i Sibyâniye
Dâiresi) was established and was divided into two departments, one dealing
with the "Mekâtib-i Sibyâniye" (Primary Schools) which offered
a traditional primary school education and the other responsible for the "Mekâtib-i
Iptidâiye" (Elementary Schools) during that period. In 1882 the
Minister of Education tried to do away with this dichotomous system by placing
his weight behind the elementary (iptidâî) schools and eventually the
primary (sibyan) schools were transformed into elementary schools. By
1909 many of the primary schools had come to adopt the new style curriculum.
The accomplishments in the areas of primary schooling and education during the
reign of Abdülhamîd can be summarized as follows. An elementary educational
organizational structure was constructed for the obligatory primary school
system in both the capital and in the provinces as an administrative measure.
Elementary schools were opened and proliferated. The new type of education was
introduced into the primary schools. Priority was given to primary education in
places where there was a dense Muslim population. The attempt was made to
secure contributions from the public in the area of education. Normal schools
were opened in the provinces in order to train teachers. Decisions taken in this
area were systematically implemented. In addition, a large number of elementary
schools were opened in Istanbul during that period. Corporal punishment and
other severe forms of punishment were forbidden in the schools. An effort was
made to spread education to the provinces. However, the poor financial
situation of the country made it difficult to fully realize these ambitions.[7]
In order
to understand the intense activity during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamîd II in
the field of education one can undertake a statistical analysis of elementary
schools, both those already existing and those offering the new type of
education, in various provinces of the Ottoman Empire between 1905 and 1906.
Accordingly, there were 355 state and nine private elementary schools in
Istanbul, the capital, twelve of these boys schools, seventeen for girls and
326 of them mixed. The situation for Anatolian cities was as follows. In Aydin there
were a total 1379 schools, 669 of which were for boys, 92 for girls and 698
were mixed. In Kastamonu there were a total of 855, 52 of which were for boys,
23 for girls and 780 mixed. In Trabzon there were a total of 526 schools, 82 of
which were for boys, one for girls and 443 were mixed. In Bursa there were a
total of 56 state schools, 43 for boys, seven for girls and six mixed, and a
total of 1406 private schools, 1208 of which were for boys, seven for girls
with 191 mixed. In addition, in Anatolia, Canakkale had more than 400
elementary schools, Ankara, Diyarbakir, Konya, Sivas and Izmit more than 200
and Erzurum more than 100. We observe the same density in the Balkans. For
example, there were more than 500 schools in Kosovo and Manastir, more than 200
in Edirne, and more than 100 in Iskodra and Yanya. In the Aegean islands there
were a total of 68 elementary schools, thirteen of them for boys, eight for
girls and 47 mixed. We observe the same intense process of elementary school
construction in the Ottoman Arab provinces. For example, there were more than
300 schools in Jerusalem, more than 200 in Beirut, and more than 100 in Aleppo.[8]
[3] For primary schools see ibid,
58-66; I. Bozdemir, "Osmanli Sibyan Mekteplerinde Egitim ve
Ögretim" (Master Thesis, Istanbul University, Social Sciences Institute,
Istanbul, 1991).
Source: MuslimHeritage
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said,
"Hasten to do good deeds before you are overtaken by one of the seven afflictions.'' Then (giving a warning) he said, "Are you waiting for such poverty which will make you unmindful of devotion; or prosperity which will make you corrupt, or disease as will disable you, or such senility as will make you mentally unstable, or sudden death, or Ad-Dajjal who is the worst expected absent, or the Hour, and the Hour will be most grievous and most bitter".
[At-Tirmidhi]
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