By Nazlan Ertan
Maarif (Education, noun) is derived from the basal root Arf in Arabic, meaning knowledge. In the Ottoman Empire and early years of the Turkish Republic, the Education Ministry was called “Maarif Vekaleti.”
In 1946, Maarif Vekaleti was rebaptized as “Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı,” using the modern Turkish word for both education and ministry and adding the term “national.”
The shift in name was aimed to represent a pivotal change in Turkey’s educational framework, aligning with broader reforms to modernize the state and better integrate with global academic standards. The modernization of the term was not mere semantics. Under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's vision established in 1923, the Turkish education system aimed to foster a secular and rationalist approach to learning, breaking free from the confines of religiously framed education. By the time I was a child in the 1970s, the term “maarif” had all but disappeared, except for “Saatli Maarif Takvimi,” a daily wall calendar with all sorts of information on its pages, from proverbs to prayer times.
However, the word “maarif” has resurfaced in contemporary discourse, largely through the AKP members' vocal pride in Ottoman heritage. The “Maarif Vakfı” (Maarif Foundation) was created in 2016 to promote quality education both domestically and internationally, often aligning with governmental educational goals. The revival of this terminology within the foundation context suggests a complex interplay between the nation's historical legacy and its aspirations for a more robust educational framework.
Discussion around reinstating “maarif” in a broader context reflects a growing desire to reconnect with Turkey's educational heritage, even as it grapples with issues of modernization and secularism.
Some argue that reviving the term adds a sense of cultural identity and historical consciousness to the education system. In contrast, others say that switching to the old word aims to challenge the secular foundations laid during Turkey's early Republic years. The fact that Yusuf Tekin, the education minister, has called the new curriculum the “Maarif Model for the Turkish Century” seems to fuel the second group’s worries.
