Idealist teachers volunteer to repair village schools, help children
İdris Emen - BATMAN
With the COVID-19 pandemic creating the largest disruption in the education system to date, a group of idealist teachers in Turkey’s east has been volunteering to help children and assist schools in overcoming their shortcomings.
In the eastern province of Batman, 12 idealist teachers painted and renovated 10 village schools throughout the pandemic period.
They supplied tablets to 41 students who had to follow the classes remotely amid the pan-demic and distributed winter clothes such as coats, shoes and berets to more than 2,000 students.
These teachers also established libraries in five schools in three different provinces and managed to put more than 2,000 books in each library.
Mehmet Ata Okay, one of the idealist teachers appointed to a school in Karameşe Çemeşevki village, 15 kilometers from the province of Batman’s Sason district, has been carrying out an arduous work to build a one-room school with the help of his friends.
“I promised my students that I would paint the school. With the help of my friends, I kept my word. After the pandemic, they will start their class in a brand-new school,” Okay said.
Ahmet Ezgin, a 23-year-old sports teacher, has been delighted to provide winter clothes to students with the contributions of non-governmental organizations, associations in the region and benefactors living in metropolitan cities.
“Winter clothes came from all over Turkey. This kind of support has given us morale. All of our children will be warm next winter,” Ezgin noted.
Portraits of prominent names of the literary world are on the walls of libraries thanks to the drawings of 33-year-old painting teacher Nilgün Akgün.
“We drew portraits of significant poets and writers on the walls so that our students can get to know the important figures of the literary world. There is also a portrait of scientist Aziz Sancar,” she added.
Determined to prepare students for their bright future, the teachers said they would do everything in their capacity for their students and would even work to establish new schools.
