Education policy in Turkey period the Second World War (1939 – 1945)

Educational services in the world have had an important function for the development of societies throughout the ages. These services, which were affected by many events, also affected the educational activities as a result of a great chaos such as the Second World War. For this reason, the study focuses on the education policies implemented in Turkey during the Second World War and the effects of these policies. In accordance with the purpose of the research, the document analysis method was preferred. The source material of the study is the Republic Archive Documents of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey State Archives, official publications; It produces books, articles and theses, as well as the Turkish Grand National Assembly Memorandum, the laws and minutes magazines, the Official Gazette of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, and periodicals and newspapers from the periodical publications of the period. Content analysis method was used to analyze the collected data. Although Turkey decided not to enter the Second World War, it was observed that this process was affected in terms of educational activities. Because giving priority to economy and defense has resulted in education services being in the background, and some schools could not be opened due to insufficient budget. In addition, the process of transforming pre-school education into primary education institutions has also been experienced. With the First and Second Education Council held in this manner, the number of classes in village schools was increased from three to five, a uniform textbook application was started and higher education institutions were connected to the Ministry of Education. In addition to these, priority rankings were made in order to eliminate the inadequacy of secondary schools, moral and mother tongue education studies were increased, curricula were arranged, and national history and toxic gas subjects were added to the curriculum. As a result of these studies, models such as Village Institutes were revealed and improvements were made in education levels.