Modern Turkish high schools established in Zamboanga, NCR
(Firstof3parts)
ISTANBUL, Turkey: Starting School Year 1999 to 2000, a group of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in Turkey called Integrated Center for Alternative Development (ICAD) Foundation established a chain of modern private secondary schools in Zamboanga City and San Juan City in cooperation with the Department of Education.
A proposal had been formally submitted by top ICAD officials, headed by the foundation’s president, Ozcan Mimiscoglu, and education coordinator Said Aksoy to a Philippine education panel sent to Istanbul by Secretary Ricardo Gloria on invitation of ICAD.
The Philippine panel was composed of then-Education Undesecretary Gutierrez Mangansakan as group leader, Bureau of Secondary Education Director Alberto Mendoza, then-Zamboanga City Schools Division Director Antonio Rimando, and Assistant Director and National Capital Region Education Supervisor Juan Banquicio.
The Turkish NGO’s move, Memiscoglu said during a conference with Filipino educators, “was prompted by the world fast becoming a global village which,” he noted, “now calls for the need to promote mutual relationship between Turkey and the Philippines especially through education, culture, arts and sports.”
He added that by setting up a bridge through establishment of modern international secondary schools in the Philippines, “ICAD would be ultimately [ contributing to] international peace and goodwill to the benefit of both the Turks and the Filipinos.”
According to him, a Turkish international high school in the Philippines “is designed to develop youngsters who are skilled and who can demonstrate competence in the fields of science, technology and arts in order for them to become productive and innovative with a broad world view and respect for human values.”
The ICAD foundation executive said the program also seeks to develop competent speakers in English, the lingua franca of commerce, industry, technology and culture in today’s world, and Turkish as a second foreign language “considering that the latter is the dominant language spoken across Turkey and its adjacent nations, Central Asia and middle and eastern European countries.”
Memiscoglu added that future Turkish- oriented high schools in the country have two objectives: to develop individuals qualified to compete in international universities and who could successfully represent the Philippines in science, physics and mathematics; and to produce Filipino students who are able to adapt to requirements of the global market and successfully represent the interest of their country.
He said the Turkish secondary institutions in Zamboanga, sprawled on a 10-hectare area in Maasin village, and San Juan City carry the same name “Private Turkish High School.
Because of their exemplary academic status, both schools now boast of over 3,000 dormitory-staying students most of them Muslims who had passed the learning centers’ entrance examinations.
To be continued