Maarif Vekili Mustafa Necati Bey’in Yeni Türk Alfabesinin Öğretilmesi İçin Yürüttüğü Faaliyetler
Mustafa Necati Bey (1892-1929), Millî Mücadele döneminde çeşitli dergi ve gazetelerde yazdığı yazılarla Batı Anadolu Kuvâ-yı Milliye hareketinin örgütlenmesinde aktif olarak yer almıştır. TBMM’de Saruhan ve İzmir milletvekilliklerinin yanı sıra İstiklâl Mahkemeleri Başkanlığı ardından Mübadele İmar ve İskân Vekilliği, Adliye Vekilliği ve Maarif Vekilliği yapmıştır. Özellikle Maarif Vekilliği döneminde millî eğitimin teşkilatlanması, yeni Türk alfabesinin hazırlanması, Millet Mektepleri’nin kurulması için yaptığı kapsamlı çalışmaları ile tanınmıştır.Bu araştırma, Maarif Vekili Mustafa Necati Bey tarafından yeni Türk alfabesinin halka öğretilmesi için yürütülen faaliyetleri içermektedir. Araştırma, döneme ilişkin arşiv kaynakları, süreli yayınlar, tetkik eserler, makaleler, tezler ve anılara dayanmaktadır.
Activities Carried Out By The Minister of National Education Mustafa Necati Bey to Teach The New Turkish Alphabet
Mustafa Necati Bey (1892–1929), played an active role in the organization of West Anatolia National Forces through his writings in various journals and newspapers during the National Struggle Period. Being a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) for Saruhan (Manisa) and İzmir after its formation, Mustafa Necati Bey also subsequently served as the head of the Independence Courts, minister of population exchange, development and housing, minister of justice, and minister of education. Especially during his ministry of education, he was well known for his comprehensive works for organizing national education, preparing the new Turkish alphabet, and founding the public schools. This research addresses the activities carried out by the Minister of Education, Mustafa Necati Bey, to teach the new Turkish alphabet to the public, and it is based on archival sources of the period as well as periodicals, surveys, articles, theses, and memoirs.
Mustafa Necati Bey was born in İzmir in 1892. Having been educated at İzmir High School and then at İstanbul Law School, he later returned to İzmir, where—besides being a lawyer—he worked as a history teacher at the Female Teachers Training College, as the principal of Private Şark High School, and as legal counselor for the Smyrna Cassaba Railway. The founder of Altay Sports Club and a notable member of the Turkish Hearts, Mustafa Necati Bey played an active role in the organization of West Anatolia National Forces through his writings on various journals and newspapers during the National Struggle Period.
Being a member of the Parliament (GNAT) for Saruhan (Manisa) after its formation, Mustafa Necati Bey served as chief judge for the Independence Courts, minister of exchange and settlement, minister of justice, and minister of education. Moreover, as the head of the Turkey Teachers’ Union, Mustafa Necati Bey carried out the most significant educational reforms in Republican history during his three-year mandate as minister of education. The Law on the Organization of Education no. 789, adopted by the GNAT on March 22, 1926 formed the legal base for these reforms. With this legislation, the organization of the ministry was re-handled, a Language Committee was formed for the first time, the structure of the Board of Education was enriched, and a centralized education was aimed by setting up “Maarif Eminlikleri” he Alphabet Reform—one of the most crucial cultural revolutions of the Republican era—was implemented in this period.
The law requiring the Alphabet Reform was adopted by the GNAT on November 1, 1928, coming into force on November 3, upon being published in the Official Gazette. For the Law on Introduction and Application of Turkish Alphabet with the number of 1353 to be applied, the leadership of the ministry of education launched a literacy campaign, and the country was nearly turned into a school.
With the belief that the ministry of education had the greatest responsibility in the literacy campaign, Mustafa Necati Bey decided that teachers introducing the new Turkish alphabet had to undergo a short-term literacy course. With this aim, 15,000 teachers introducing the new alphabet were educated, enabling them to teach the new alphabet through in-service trainings launched in August and September in İstanbul, Ankara, and various districts of Anatolia. Moreover, the publication and distribution of coursebooks for all primary schools, as well as the publication of secondary school coursebooks and Turkish books, were completed, and high school books, dictionaries, and spelling and grammar books were ready to be published.
To teach the new Turkish alphabet to those over the school age, it was decided to open public schools where an all-inclusive common public education program was to be applied; people would be literate and not delay their careers; the education period would be scheduled as two, four, and six months, and itinerant schools would be formed in noschool environments. If necessary, all officers would be assigned to schools, and a few thousand people would be literate with this method. All these radical steps were taken a short while after the introduction of the Alphabet Reform: all preparations to open public schools were completed, and a regulation was implemented.
Upon completion, public schools were opened with official ceremonies on January 1, 1929, even though the Minister for Education, Mustafa Necati Bey, had lost his life. With the help of common public education offered in these schools, many people could learn how to read and write. Though interest in these schools decreased in time, as a result of the educational activities carried out between 1928 and 1951, 83,008 classes were opened in total—66,197 as (A) classes and 16,811 as (B) classes. A total of 70,047 teachers were assigned to them, 57,227 of which were men, and 12,820 were women. A total of 355,034 people graduated from the public schools—1,065,581 men and 369,890 women from (A) classes, and 274,692 men and 80,342 women from (B) classes. Within 33 years 1,790,734 people had learned how to read and write, obtaining a diploma.
This study includes the activities carried out by Minister for Education Mustafa Necati Bey in teaching the new Turkish alphabet to the people, and it employs a qualitative research method as document analysis technique. The research is based on archival sources of the period as well as newspaper and journals, surveys, articles, theses, and memoirs.