The effects on education of epidemics in Turkey

Abstract

The pandemics and epidemics experienced in Turkey after the second quarter of the twentieth century had a profound impact on society and education. The "General Hygiene Law", which came into force in 1930 in an attempt to fight against increasing epidemic diseases, was a service provided by the state to improve health conditions in the country and to combat all diseases that threatened the health of the nation. Flu (influenza) epidemics that occur almost every winter in Turkey were experienced particularly severely in the years 1932, 1949 and 1957 and dominated the whole agenda of the country. Another disease that was as severe as flu and that was experienced every year as an epidemic was tuberculosis, and it wrought havoc in the lives of people in many cities, towns and villages across the country. During the periods of these epidemics, education was interrupted from time to time and, schools were suspended. In this study, changes in education, restrictions, obstacles, measures taken and methods developed against epidemic diseases in Turkey are discussed. The data of the study were obtained from primary sources, such as documents from the State Archives, newspapers and magazines published in that period, laws and regulations, books and articles written in the period, and brochures and textbooks published.