Yön Magazine and its perspective on education (village institutes)

Benefiting from the environment of freedom brought by the 1961 Constitution, Yön magazine continued to be published from 20 December 1961 until 30 June 1967. Yön magazine was published in 222 issues in total. The topics covered in Yön magazine shed light on Türkiye's political agenda. Affected by the 27 May military coup d'état, the magazine's articles were written by the authors about what needed to be done in order not to return to the old period. In the magazine Yön, different topics were covered in many fields, especially politics and education. In the magazine Yön, the issue of education was specially focused on the Village Institutes. The 17th issue of Yön was devoted to the Village Institutes. The Village Institutes were the continuation of the education system for the village that had been implemented before. Founded on 17 April 1940 by Hasan Âli Yücel and İsmail Hakkı Tonguç with great efforts and efforts, the purpose of the establishment of the Village Institutes was to train teachers for the village. The core of the Village Institutes was based on "education on the job". Wherever there is work, there is education. Working and producing constituted the most important step in the educational life of the students. During the years that the institutes continued education, the education programme for the village was successfully carried out. Those who were trained in the institutes and became teachers, village children who travelled outside their villages for the first time, and village people who learned modern agriculture and animal husbandry are among the important achievements of the institutes. Mehmet Başaran, Talip Apaydın and Fakir Baykurt are among the important writers trained in the Village Institutes. Thanks to the importance attached to books and knowledge by the institutes, the writers who grew up there strengthened the village literature. The magazine Yön, which wanted to lead Türkiye towards a goal, was in favour of reopening the Village Institutes in education. Intellectuals who wanted to realise their goals published various articles about Village Institutes in Yön. No matter how much they wanted the closed Village Institutes to be reopened, they were never reopened.