Education in Countries in Process of Development: Experience in Turkey

The present level of education in highly developed countries has been the product of a long process. Compulsory school attendance for children was introduced in some German states as early as the seventeenth century. In France, already in 1872, 69 per cent of the population of 7 years and over were literate. What has taken centuries in the West must now be accomplished in under-developed countries in decades. The task encounters formidable obstacles. The low level of income restricts the amount of private and public funds which can be devoted to education. The group to be educated is very large in relation to the number of potential educators. With the high rate of population growth the size of the main component of this group (children of school age) increases rapidly, often faster than the total population. Moreover in most countries in process of development there is an imbalance between the degree of development of the rural and urban sectors. The former is definitely underdeveloped while some progress has taken place in the latter, leading to higher incomes, new patterns of living and to a changed outlook. Since adaptation to the very different way of life in villages is difficult for town-reared people, there is a marked reluctance to leave urban centres, a factor which hinders the penetration of education into areas where it is most needed. Ample illustrations of all these obstacles can be found in the recent experience of Turkey.