From the New Order to the Benevolent Event – Making Children’s Education Compulsory in the Ottoman Empire, 1808 – 1826

Abstract

Sultan Mahmud II's era witnessed a gradual transition of the centuries-old classical Ottoman education system that was controlled by the ulama into a state administration by the announcement of an imperial decree in 1824. Although this significant change was the third in Europe, it has not been a specific topic for academic research so far. As the documents from the Ottoman archives confirm, the Sultan's efforts concerning children's basic education began almost a decade earlier. He was concerned about the deteriorating quality of the education system. Based on the primary sources, this study aims to portray the historical 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 work instead of sending them to school. According to the imperial decree, children started working at a very early age and did not learn the basics of their religion, and when they grew up, they did not go and educate themselves either. Sultan instructed authorities to prevent child labor and ensure children attended schools learning the basics of their religion. In effect, children's education became the collective responsibility of not only the families but also imams, school teachers, neighborhood administrators, and judges.