Closure process of Village Institutes and relevant discussions in Turkey during this period

The way for the society to grow economically stable is a planned and high quality education system implemented in a society with the rule of law. Thanks to this education system, free thought and critical point of view are strengthened among the people, and this situation ensures that the members of the nation are educated according to their qualifications and take place in the current system. Independent and strong institutions based on merit have risen on by well-educated youth whose freedoms are supported. Mustafa Kemal was a leader who knew very well the value of education for the Turkish Nation. For this reason, during the Kütahya-Eskişehir wars, he organized the Maarif Congress and was closely interested in determining the education policies for post-war Turkey. Mustafa Kemal knew that; even if victory was won on the battlefield, if the children and youth were not protected through education, the success on the front would not be of any importance. 23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day and 19 May Youth and Sports Day are the work of this understanding. Village Institutes, which was established with the thought of contributing to the creation of national consciousness, was one of the most promising education programs of the Republic of Turkey, aiming to raise free-thinking and critical young people. It was a great educational campaign that would solve the lack of education in the villages, as well as teach the villagers modern methods in matters such as health, agriculture, child care and handicrafts, and ensure that the principles and reforms of the new regime are recognized and adopted in the villages where the majority of the population lives. The establishment purposes of village institutes were to make the villages and small Anatolian cities into living spaces with high intellectual accumulation that can produce with modern methods, to make it understood that the villages are also places to be educated like the cities, and to prevent migration from the village to the city with the reforms to be carried out, such as the Land Law. With the population and production potential of the villages, this inclusive system, which was prepared with the thought that it was the way to rise above the level of industrialization and contemporary civilizations, was ended in 1954. Village Institutes, which have been subjected to long-term criticism for many religious, social and political reasons, is one of the issues that are frequently discussed even today. The people who set up the system, prepare the infrastructure, and prepare the laws for its implementation are clear. On the other hand the people who closed the institutes, how and when the bad course started are the subject of discussions. There are great debates on whether there are aspects to justify the criticisms in the activities carried out within the system, how much the graduates of the Institute have gained the expected equipment, and the share of the USA and the transition to multi-party life on the termination of the activities of the institution.