Nation Schools and Regional Literacy in Turkey

The new Turkish Republic inherited a country with a very low level of literacy. One argument to explain low literacy rate was the difficulty of then existing Arabic based script. In 1928, a new and Latin based alphabet was introduced under the so-called “Letter Revolution.” In November of the same year a new law passed the parliament and a series of schools called “Nation Schools” (Millet Mektepleri) were opened all around the country. The aim was to teach the public, mostly those between ages 16 and 30, the new alphabet and increase literacy rate. Nation schools operated until 1935 and continued their existence until 1950 with a Turkish name “Ulus Okulları.” The aim of this project is to collect data from various sources on the attendance at Nation Schools and then test its impact on literacy rates at provincial level.