From The New Order To The Benevolent Event – Making Children’s Education Compulsory In The Ottoman Empire, 1808 – 1824

Abstract

Sultan Mahmud II’s era witnessed gradual transition of the centuries old classical Ottoman education system that is controlled by the ulama into a state administration by the announcement of an imperial decree in 1824. Although this major change was historically the third in the Europe, somehow has not been a specific topic for an academic research so far. In fact, as the documents from the Ottoman archives confirm, Sultan’s efforts concerning children’s basic education began almost a decade earlier. He was concerned about deteriorating quality of the education system. Based on the primary sources, this study aims to portray historic background and the official transfer of children’s education under state control. This decree did not only make children’s education compulsory but also displayed families bad habit of letting little children to work instead of sending them to schools. According to the imperial decree, children started working at a very early age and did not learn basics of their religion and when they grow up, they did not go and educate themselves either. Sultan instructed authorities to prevent child labour and assure children attended schools learning basics of their religion. In effect, children’s education became collective responsibility of not only the families but also imams, school teachers, neighbourhood administrators and judges.