April 15, 2024
The 14th Country Representatives Meeting of Turkish Maarif Foundation (TMF), the representative of TMF in the field of international education with 467 educational institutions in 52 countries in different geographies of the world, started at the headquarters of the Foundation in Istanbul. The opening speech of the meeting, which was attended by the members of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, Board of Directors and Audit Board, country representatives and Headquarters staff, was made by the President of the Foundation Prof. Dr. Birol Akgün.
In his speech, Prof. Dr. Birol Akgün stated that while there is happiness and joy on the one hand, those in difficult situations are remembered on the other hand, and that our country and the world are going through difficult times, and drew attention to the fact that one year has passed since the Earthquakes of February 6, the Disaster of the Century.
Immediately after the earthquake, Akgün stated that they took action as the Foundation and endeavored to heal the wounds: "On the first day of the earthquake, we held a coordination meeting at the Headquarters, we contacted our Maarif graduate students in the region, we set up a mobile kitchen in the earthquake zone. We set up a Maarif Street consisting of 50 containers in Adıyaman Besni with what our students in our schools saved from their pocket money. We set up 3 Kyrgyz Tents that we brought from Kyrgyzstan. During my recent visit to the region, I have concretely experienced the reconstruction activities of our government. On this occasion, I would like to express my gratitude to the relevant units of our state, especially our President, who declared mobilization immediately after such a major disaster and continued to work without stopping and did not spare his interest and attention. I wish health, peace and prosperity to our earthquake victims."
"We cannot pass without mentioning Palestine and Gaza, East Turkistan and Uyghur Turks." Akgün said that he condemned Israel's tyranny, unlawful and inhumane brutality and expressed his wish for the end of the atrocities in East Turkistan, Gaza, and all over the world.
Stating that TMF contributes to the development of the human capital of many countries by providing quality and qualified education to the young generations of many countries in the educational institutions it has opened abroad, and on the other hand, by carrying Türkiye's accumulated knowledge to different geographies, Akgün said, "With this flexible and strong structure, our Foundation provides education services to 53 thousand students in a total of 467 educational institutions, including 446 schools (K-12 schools), 1 higher education institution and 20 training centers in 52 countries. 229 of these educational institutions are FETÖ-affiliated schools in 20 countries, which were previously closed and transferred to our Foundation after intensive diplomatic efforts. In addition, our Foundation has Turkish Studies Centers in Colombia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Djibouti, Chad, Mali and Belarus. These centers aim to introduce Türkiye to the international academia at the higher education level by providing elective and credit courses such as Turkish, Turkish foreign policy, Türkiye, and related country relations within the prestigious universities in these countries."
Stating that TMF aims to raise virtuous and good people all over the world; to strengthen the bonds of friendship between our nation and other nations by raising virtuous people who are equipped with global skills, who have internalized their own core and national values, who feel close to Türkiye, with the quality and qualified education it offers, Akgün said, "Our Foundation mainly carries out formal education activities at the K-12 level. In this education, which covers the period from pre-school to senior high school, Maarif Schools basically provide education based on the national curriculum of the country in which we operate. However, with the permission of the relevant governments, school programs with International Baccalaureate (IB) or Cambridge Certificate can also be implemented when needed. In addition to these, our Foundation also conducts R&D studies to develop its own unique curriculum. Regardless of the curriculum, we offer our students a comprehensive curriculum that includes modern science, social sciences, technological skills, language skills, local culture and values. Especially in language skills, we primarily teach our students their national language and Turkish, and we also teach them a foreign language. The opportunity to teach multiple languages and the fact that Turkish is not a compulsory language of instruction, as well as offering students the opportunity to learn about their own cultures, distinguishes our Foundation from other international educational institutions."
"Our Foundation, which acts with the mission of carrying out competent educational activities based on the ancient wisdom tradition of Anatolia, carries out its activities in accordance with the strategies, goals, activities and indicators determined in the Strategic Plans it has prepared." Emphasizing Akgün, he continued as follows: "Our Foundation has come to these days with a planned and programmed work as guided by the 2017-2019 Strategic Plan during the establishment and institutionalization period and the 2020-2023 Strategic Plan during the "quality, capacity and resource" focused development period. We continue to act in the same manner in the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye, which we celebrate with enthusiasm and pride as a country and nation. In line with the "Century of Türkiye" vision put forward by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, our Foundation has started to implement its 2024-2026 Strategic Plan with a focus on "quality and sustainability". In the Third Strategic Plan, we have identified three main strategies, namely "developing the corporate culture, ensuring quality and sustainability in education", based on the objectives of deepening and expanding the work of TMF, increasing its brand value in terms of quality, and ensuring its financial competence within the framework of sustainability. We attach importance to institutionalization. We have operations in every continent from Asia to Africa, from Europe to the Americas, and despite the changing local legislation of all countries, we have largely set the standards."
Stating that as a foundation, they are proud of the individual achievements of students in educational institutions, Akgün said, "However, I would like to remind you again that we will not be satisfied with this, we need to focus on collective success instead of individual success. Do not forget that we can become an "ecole" when we raise our collective success bar instead of the success of a few students."
"If you cannot produce ideas, you will be in need of imitation. Based on this maxim, we are producing our own idea, our own knowledge, our own unique International Maarif (IM) curriculum." Akgün said, "After Turkish, we are preparing science and mathematics curriculum, Culture and Civilization curriculum, and now Artificial Intelligence Literacy curriculum. In this respect, we are a distinguished institution that is destined to become an international education brand not only with our educational activities but also with curriculum creation and accreditation processes. We are a local and national institution that introduces Türkiye, its history, culture, culture, geography, people and teaches Turkish in formal and non-formal education activities. Our most concrete product in curriculum studies has been the "Program and Curriculum for Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language". We are completing the book sets of the Turkish program."
In the session that followed, Dr. Hasan Taşçı, Member of the Board of Trustees, presented the 2024-2026 TMF Strategic Plan, Ali Çiçek, Member of the Board of Directors, presented the Financial Affairs and Annual Budget Presentation and Mustafa Çaltılı, Member of the Board of Directors, made a presentation on Procurement Processes.
TMF 14th Country Representatives and Consultation Meeting will continue with presentations, evaluations and negotiations for four days.
