Aksu Village Institute: From its establishment to the present day

One of the fields handled in the studies of modernization and reform after the proclamation of the Republic was education. During that period, emphasis was especially given to projects dedicated to the education of rural people who constituted a significant portion of the total population. Because rural areas were places where literacy rate was the lowest, ignorance rate was the highest, educational opportunities were the most limited. But beyond only increasing the literacy rate, a system that would help villagers equip with knowledge and skills through which they could continue their lives, shift to production and make progress in social and economic respects was needed. It was this need that started the process leading to the creation of the village institutes and with a decision taken in 1940, by the conversion of some schools opened formerly, village institutes were founded. These institutions became one of the most original projects in the field of education in the history of the Republic of Turkey. In this study, the unknown about Aksu Village Institute, which is an example of this important project in Turkey's modernization experimentation, were tried to be revealed with documents based on archive; institute life and stages the institute has undergone so far have been discussed with different aspects. As primary source for research, the documents in the archive room, museum and library of Aksu Science High School were used; additionally books, periodicals, encyclopaedias, official publications written on the village institutes and theses on the topic were examined. Documents obtained from the archives were ordered in a historical time line and then interpreted by being exposed to content analysis. Therefore different aspects of institute life and the stages it has undergone from its establishment to the present day (1940-2017) were described.