The effects on education of epidemics in Turkey

ABSTRACT

The pandemics and epidemics experienced in Turkey after the second quarter of the twentieth century had a profound impact on society and education. The “General Hygiene Law”, which came into force in 1930 in an attempt to fight against increasing epidemic diseases, was a service provided by the state to improve health conditions in the country and to combat all diseases that threatened the health of the nation. Flu (influenza) epidemics that occur almost every winter in Turkey were experienced particularly severely in the years 1932, 1949 and 1957 and dominated the whole agenda of the country. Another disease that was as severe as flu and that was experienced every year as an epidemic was tuberculosis, and it wrought havoc in the lives of people in many cities, towns and villages across the country. During the periods of these epidemics, education was interrupted from time to time and, schools were suspended. In this study, changes in education, restrictions, obstacles, measures taken and methods developed against epidemic diseases in Turkey are discussed. The data of the study were obtained from primary sources, such as documents from the State Archives, newspapers and magazines published in that period, laws and regulations, books and articles written in the period, and brochures and textbooks published.

KEYWORDS:

• Epidemics diseases
• Turkey
• school doctors
• schools
• education restrictions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Betül Batır, Beware! Influenza is here! An Overview of the Socio-Cultural Effects of Influenza Epidemics in Turkey (İstanbul: Milenyum Yayınları, 2021), 13–17; Hülya Parıldar-Mustafa Fevzi Dikici, “History of Pandemics”, Klinik Tıp Aile Hekimliği 12, no. 1 (2020): 5–6; Ahmad Abed Ahmadi, Hülya Şirin, Toker Ergüder, “World History of Pandemics”, Turkey Health Literacy Journal 1, no. 2 (2020): 15–16.

² Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 30.10.0.0/7.40.36.

³ Turkish National Grand Assembly Record of Minutes, 3.2.1341, m:46, vol: 1, p. 95.

⁴ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 30.10.0.0/177.221.3.

⁵ Porter: carrier, vector.

⁶ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 30.10.0.0/177.221.4.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ “Health conditions of teachers”, Cumhuriyet, 20 July 1939, 2.

⁹ “Health conditions of the student”, Cumhuriyet, 16 June 1942, 2.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Turkish National Grand Assembly Record of Minutes, 1.9.1947, part:79, m:1, pp. 549–55.

¹² Turkish National Grand Assembly Record of Minutes, 1.9.1947, part:79, m:1, pp. 549–551; “Ministers of Health and Education answered a question yesterday”, Cumhuriyet, 2 September 1947, 3.

¹³ Journal of Communiques of the Ministry of National Education, Vol. 11, Issue 527, 28.2.1949, p. 162.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.53; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.54.

¹⁶ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.55.

¹⁷ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.57.

¹⁸ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.80.

¹⁹ “The typhoid epidemic in Bafra”, Cumhuriyet, 8 February 1933, 3; “The case of spotted fever in Uşak”, Cumhuriyet, 12 February 1933, 3; “Diphtheria in schools – all students are vaccinated against diphtheria”, Cumhuriyet, 14 December 1933, 2.

²⁰ “Whopping cough after scarlet fever and measles”, Cumhuriyet, 12 May 1939, 2.

²¹ Public Health Law, 24.04.1930, Düstûr, order:3, vol:11, pp.1061–1104; Süleyman Tekir, “Struggle with Contagious Diseases in Turkey in the Early Republican Period (1923–1930)”, Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Dergisi, TAED-65, Erzurum: 2019, 427; Betül Batır, Beware! Influenza is here! An Overview of the Socio-Cultural Effects of Influenza Epidemics in Turkey, 21–28.

²² “Important decisions of the Ministry of Health, Reporting influenza cases were made mandatory”, Cumhuriyet, 15 February 1935, 1; “Influenza”, Cumhuriyet, 5 January 1970, 1, 7.

²³ For a study conducted on the book of the “Protective Health” course added to the education programme, see: Selim Kadıoğlu, Zehra Edisan, Funda Kadıoğlu, “A Leaf from History of School Hygiene: ‘The School Hygiene Textbook’ by M. Cemal”, Lokman Hekim Journal 2, no. 3 (2012): 58–72.

²⁴ “Important decisions of the Ministry of Health, Reporting influenza cases were made mandatory”, Cumhuriyet, 15 February 1935, 1.

²⁵ The Journal Of Communiques of the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey, 10 March 1958, 21 (998); Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.72

²⁶ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.4; 180.09.10/60.1.42; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.33; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.34.

²⁷ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.45.

²⁸ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.29; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.27; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.25.

²⁹ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.30.

³⁰ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.31.

³¹ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.32.

³² Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.35.

³³ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.37; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.39.

³⁴ BCG, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine. The first vaccinations started in 1927. Production of BCG vaccine given subcutaneously started in 1943. See: Hilal Özkaya, “Fight against contagious diseases during the period of the Republic”, Türk Aile Hekimliği Dergisi, TAHUD 20, no. 2: 79.

³⁵ Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.1; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.2; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.3; Prime Ministry Republic Archive, 180.09.10/60.1.4.

³⁶ “We are gaining a new institution, the first pavilion of the Education sanatorium opens”, Cumhuriyet, 20 December 1938 1, 9.

³⁷ “We are gaining a new institution, the first pavilion of the Education sanatorium opens”, Cumhuriyet, 20 December 1938 1, 9.

³⁸ Ibid.

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ “Health conditions of teachers”, Cumhuriyet, 20 July 1939, 2.

⁴¹ “Health conditions of the student”, Cumhuriyet, 16 June 1942, 2.

⁴² “214 sick students were admitted to the Preventorium”, Cumhuriyet, 27 July 1949, 5.

Additional information

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Betul Batir

Betul Batir is Assoc. Professor in the Hasan Âli Yücel Education Faculty at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey. Her teaching and research interests include the history of European and Turkish education systems. Her historical research has focused on educational politics of last period Ottoman Empire and early period Turkish Republic (the subject of her PhD thesis), and educational reforms. She has been working on the effects of Turkey in the education systems of Western countries.