writing_womans_lives_symposium_paper_book_v2

In every quarter and village or in every two quarters and villages, if necessary, there
shall be at least one Sibyan School. In the mixed (Muslim‐non‐Muslim) villages and
quarters, the Islamic school and non‐Muslim children’s school shall be different.
Article Nine declared that primary education was compulsory for girls from the age of six to ten
and for boys from the age of seven to eleven. Local authorities were assigned to monitor school age
children, register their names and take swift action if people did not comply with the rules. Parents
or whoever was responsible for the child was to be cautioned and if they persisted, punished, when
the child did not go to school. In some exceptional circumstances, which were listed in Article
Thirteen, a child’s excuse would be accepted for failing to attend the school.
For years, educating girls had been encouraged, and Article Fifteen announced that if there were
two schools in a neighbourhood or village, which belonged to the same religious group, one of them
was to be reserved for girls. However, if there was only one school available, then girls would be
admitted to this school. They were permitted to study in the boys’ school until the girls’ schools were
completed. In the ‘girls only schools’, teachers were to be preferably females. But, in the absence of
qualified teachers, aged and respectable men would be able to teach. The same regulations would
apply to girls’ schools as boys’ schools, and separate schools were planned to be built specially for
girls.
Rüshdiye schools for girls were to be built in big cities, starting in the capital Istanbul, and later to
be spread to provincial centres. If the population was only Muslim in the city, then a Rüshdiye school
for Girls would be especially opened for them. If the population was Christian only, then the school
was to be for Christians. In mixed Muslim and non‐Muslim cities, followers of each religion would
have their own school providing that there was more than five hundred houses (Article Twenty‐
Seven). Teachers at the Rüshdiye schools for girls were to be females only. But, until qualified female
teachers graduated, old and decent males (musin ve edib adamlardan) would be employed (Article
Twenty‐Eight).
Darülmuallimat (Female teacher training college)
Girls’ education gradually became a state policy and the Maarif‐i Umumiye Nizamnamesi set
regulations for their education. The Nizamname included detailed description of opening schools for
girls at primary and secondary levels and more importantly proposed a higher‐level school to train
female teachers 13 . The college had two branches: Sibyan and Rüshdiye. Each branch was divided in
two departments: a department to train teachers for Muslim schools and a department to train
teachers for non‐Muslim schools 14 . Until female teachers were trained for the college, aged and wellmannered
male teachers were going to be employed as teachers. Graduates of Rüshdiye schools
were to be accepted to the college, but those, who did not have Rüshdiye diploma, were going to be
examined prior to their admission. Students were going to receive stipends during their study and
were obliged to work at least five years at schools where they were appointed.
In 26 April 1870 (25 Muharrem 1287 A.H.), the official state newspaper Takvim‐i Vekayi
announced that the Darülmuallimat was officially opened in Istanbul by the Minister of Public
Education, Safvet Pasha. In the opening ceremony, Safvet Pasha drew attention to the importance of
providing women equal opportunities for their education 15 . As to support his views, he gave
examples from hadith, Islamic history and European states, and emphasised that women were
capable of learning sciences and industry as much as men. He pointed out that due to absence of
special schools, girls did not have the chance to continue their education after studying at the
primary schools. As a result new Rüshdiye schools were opened for girls, but because there were no
qualified female teachers and male teachers dominated the school, after the age of nine or ten, girls
did not stay at school more than two years. This was not long enough to complete their education;
they needed at least four years of study. The Minister said that the solution was to increase the
number of female teachers at these schools and therefore it was important to open a college to train
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