Chairman of the Board
“Loyal to our mission of ‘Equality of Opportunity in Education’, we will continue changing our sons and daughters’ lives and Turkey’s future through education by getting even more empowered and pursuing the aim of reaching the level of contemporary civilizations”.
Since 1863, we, as the Darüşşafaka Society, which has endured great difficulties together with its country and nation and continues to change lives with education under all circumstances, have been providing “equality of opportunity in education” to talented but financially disadvantaged kids with deceased fathers or mothers and raising them as pioneer individuals who are lifelong learners, adopt universal values, are self-confident and aware of their social duties and responsibilities.
Striving to extend and generalize our mission of “Equality of Opportunity in Education” for 160 years, our Society has been providing education at the Darüşşafaka Schools with intensive foreign language courses from the 5th grade till high school graduation and with full-scholarship and boarding opportunity to almost 1000 students selected through an exam from all corners of Turkey, our beloved country. We feel proud to send all our students to the best universities of Turkey and the world by raising them as individuals with the competencies of the era.
Our Darüşşafaka, the first non-governmental organization in the field of education in the history of Turkey, defended the right of every child to receive the best education in line with his or her abilities, not only today but also at the time of its establishment. Basing all its activities on the modern, rational, and egalitarian education model of the Great Leader Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, our Darüşşafaka uses its leading identity among the education and civil society movement in the most proper manner for Turkey’s social development and for its children to have a better future.
Our Society maintains and preserves its leading identity among the education and civil society movement thanks to the donations it receives from the benevolent Turkish nation and the institutional works it carries out without clouding the trust of its donors. Our Society, which sets an example for sustainable institutions in Turkey with its 160 years of experience, owes its existence to both its valuable donors and the principle of “accountability” that ensures it does not compromise its donors’ trust.
Our Society documents its transparency and accountability by procuring services for independent corporate governance rating. Darüşşafaka managed to be the organization with the highest corporate governance compliance rating in the civil sector following the raising of the 2022 rating of our Society to 9.77 out of 10 by Kobirate Uluslararası Kredi Derecelendirme ve Kurumsal Yönetim Hizmetleri A.Ş..
As Darüşşafaka, we make plans for 20 years and 50 years from now, and we work with might and main to ensure that our students are brought up ready for the requirements of the future. So, in the upcoming period, graduating our students as young people equipped with the competencies of the 21st century will be our main priority. We will continue investing in digital transformation. We are the first secondary-level school to start the artificial intelligence class, open the Techno-Entrepreneurship Youth Center, and organize the 3D Printing Workshop and Competition in Turkey. We provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education and coding and entrepreneurship courses. We will enhance our experience in these, introduce new firsts, and become a model school in digital transformation for secondary education in Turkey.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our esteemed donors that are the authors of the stories of our kids whose lives have been changed through education, previous Darüşşafaka graduates that always stand by our Society, our teachers that are honorably devoted to our children’s dreams, and the parents that entrust their sons and daughters to us with absolute confidence.
We will continue working for the future generations of Turkey, our beloved country, without compromising the modern education approach of our Great Leader, Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and by remaining loyal to our mission of “equality of opportunity in education”.
OĞUZ GÜLEÇ (DŞ’1972)
Chairperson of The Board,
Darüşşafaka Society
