ABSTRACT
The culmination of all of these reforms was in 1929 with the introduction of National Schools, the intent of which was to inculcate the new nationalistic and proWestern socio-cultural identity. The curriculum of the new schools was designed to reinforce reforms that had already been introduced by employing the new script, emphasizing principles of secularism, and expanding upon the cultural values introduced in those reforms. It was believed that the political values of the new-born nation had to be disseminated to the fledgling generation. With this in mind, the principles underlying the newly developing national system of education, which included adult education as well, would encompass those emphazing modernization, as professed by Mustafa Kemal and his cadre. The reforms were quick to have an impact, with the literacy rate rising from about 8 per cent in 1928 to over 20 per cent in 1935. In addition to the formal education provided to school children by the National Schools, the People’s Houses (Halkevleri) provided free education to adults —not only in the area of reading and writing, for the illiterate, but also practicallyoriented programs for people having different interests and avocations.
