“We believe that it’s every child’s right to access preschool education” says Nalan Yalçın, General Manager of AÇEV, Mother Child Education Foundation.

AÇEV piloted an intensive pre-school program to provide critical early childhood education for Syrian refugee children in last summer. We as Siemens Turkey are proud to support such a valuable project of AÇEV. Following the program, an extensive monitoring and evaluation was conducted and the results revealed that kids benefited from this program showed a remarkable improvement which proved it ‘successful’. Some of this children have never seen their parents home back in Syria. Now they are even more ready for their ordinary school education.

This has been a valuable example to develop further education programs for refugee children. This video talks for itself!

In my postdated 25 July 2014, I had given statistical information on femicides and stated my anger on this issue. Let me remind you my words: “There is not a single week, or even a day, that a woman is not abused and killed in our country. 139 women were killed in the first 6 months of 2014.” (Where are the authorities as women get killed?) Unfortunately, the situation is even worse today. And my sadness grows, as does my anger. We, as a society, have to solve this problem. But how?

As in every problem, the first step to solution is education. I don’t mean formal education. The starting point should be the family training and perception created within the family. Once we consider, evaluate and thus value “boys” differently from “girls”, unfortunately we cause the problem to become deeper and deeper. As parents or adults, we have to teach children that people cannot be treated differently because of their gender or other qualities. If we can succeed in this training within the family and if our children see the same perspective at school, we can overcome this problem. However, this is medium and long-term solution. How about the short-term? Shall we let this go on as it is? Of course not. Here, I would like to reshare my blog post of 25 July:

“I’m angry. There is not a single week, or even a day, that a woman is not abused and killed in our country. 139 women were killed in the first 6 months of 2014.

The number of women killed by men was 18 in June alone.

I’m angry because families, friends, neighbors, in short, the society neither show any interest in this issue nor react to even the slightest suspicion of violence against women. Nowhere in the world can we expect or hope for any government to solve all problems. The solution to such problems should come from us as responsible individuals. Those who do not take action risk ill-treatment to their daughters, sisters, mothers, or spouses as well. There are, of course, more important and urgent issues in our country and in the world, but this is also critical. As members of this society, we act as if we are not responsible for this situation and say, “I have my own problems, what can I do?” Yet this is the problem of all of us. We must act.

It would be horrible for people in our country to get used to this, as if it is normal or not important. Sometimes just a phone call pays off, please let’s be responsible:

183 – (Social Services Hotline for Family, Women, Children, and Disabled)

Domestic Violence Emergency Hotline – 0212 656 96 96”

What else can we do? We can speak up. Let’s support the initiatives on this issue and say it loud on every occasion that every human being has the same right to live. It is the duty of all of us to get erase this shame.

Today is a special day. Every year we celebrate the 24^th of November to remember our teachers and pay respect to them. On one hand, we remember our own teachers and on the other, we consider the day as a chance to show our gratitude, love and respect to the teachers of our children, if we have any. Or if we are teachers, we hear from our past students and also enjoy the chirping of those we still teach: “Happy Teacher’s Day!” That’s all good. But sadly, teaching as a profession is still very far away from the point that it deserves to be. We have not yet been able to provide our teachers, the architects of today and tomorrow, with an environment where they will have no other concern than to teach and educate. However, none of these facts can damage the importance of this profession. So, what is the definition of “the best teacher” to me and what is the first and foremost reason for attaching such great importance to teaching?

In my opinion, the best teacher is the one who is always open to innovations, who sticks to this habit even in age of maturity and never closes the doors for what’s new. Access to information is very easy for today’s children, I realize this best when I listen and talk to my kids. Therefore, I do not and cannot ever be contented with what I teach them myself.

The best example so far for our teachers is, of course, Atatürk – the leader who established the foundations of this opportunity for them. But in fact, we have not seen the best examples yet. The best example will be the next generation. Why? Because the new generation is a modern one, seeing innovation neither as a risk nor a reason for fear. That will be our greatest luck. We always talk about the great potential of Turkey. Unless we have teachers to turn this potential into value for the individuals and the society, that potential will remain unproductive. Thus, innovative teachers who teach and encourage students to think with an innovative perspective will be the greatest fortune for us. One day, when we actively participate in space studies as a country, we should remember that our teachers, to whom our parents first entrusted us as young children, have played a great role in this success.

Happy Teacher’s Day.

Darüşşafaka High Advisory Board gathered on September 21^st to discuss the future opportunities for Darüşşafaka Society.

In addition to my personal commitment to this educational institution, Siemens Turkey also proudly supports Darüşşafaka, which has offered a bright future to thousands of students since its establishment, with the strength and trust built in 150 years.

I sincerely hope we will have many other good examples in education like Darüşşafaka.

The school year has just ended and many students of all levels should have a short (!) time to breathe. However, are students really doing this?

A vast majority of students are already rolled up in prep schools, camps and education centers, in order to prepare themselves for the next semester. Parents are more stressed (mentally and financially) than the students themselves. Why? To give parents credit, their instinctual behavior and attention is ” not to make any mistakes” when it comes to the future of their children. For this reason they are acting upon the advice of the teachers and are using all efforts to improve their child’s academic records in the areas where their weaknesses are.   As a parent myself of three, my wife and I often question ourselves on the topic of how to find the right balance between focusing on the weak areas and nurturing the strength of our children.

Interestingly (empirically) the main dominator of a child’s success in life will be her natural talent, strengths, way of thinking and her uniqueness.  They will succeed life because of these specific talents they have. The best sales person is not one who has the highest GPA or one who comes from a top school, but more the person who has the unique talent, the individual personality to deal with customers. We look at people who solve problems differently, who are creative in addressing issues from different perspectives and angles. When we at Siemens focus on new talents for our company we do not only look at the academic grades. We look and assess the individuals unique capabilities, thinking patterns, and values  and how they solve problems differently. It is of question whether  our education system is teaching and grooming upon these aspects? Unfortunately the present system of education is still lacking in making us subservient, mechanical and deeply thoughtless. It may awaken them intellectually but inwardly it leaves them incomplete.

In our education system ( not only in Turkey) we place too much emphasis  on the explicit conventional knowledge training. Another knowledge exists however which we call Tacit knowledge. The term “tacit knowing” or “tacit knowledge” was first introduced into philosophy by Michael Polanyi in 1958 in his magnum opus Personal Knowledge. Here we talk about a specific knowledge and thinking pattern which is difficult to convey to another person in writing or simple verbalizing. Our children know more than they can tell but they may not be able to articulate it in the conventional academic way and as a result of  time pressure.

Teachers and parents are often not aware of the knowledge their children possess or how it can be valuable, if nurtured wisely to the future children or our society. In light of this our teachers and our school system needs to adopt a revolutionary change.
The ultimate aim of education and educators should be grooming the future citizens of our nation by focusing on those with diverse thinking capabilities which should be construed as a gift and not as a failure.