Dad, Send Me To School Campaign
Aware of the fact that lack of education stands as a huge barrier in front of Turkey's rapid development and especially girls cannot benefit from compulsory schooling, Milliyet Daily started a mobilization campaign 'Dad, Send Me to School' in 2005. The campaign aims to help women, who make up half of the population and will be raising the next generation, take part in increasing the prosperity level of Turkey as active individuals.
According to the researches, there were social, structural and financial reasons behind the problem. Therefore, Milliyet decided to increase the social awareness, and contribute to the elimination of structural and financial problems.
Since its launch on April 23, 2005, the campaign has generated more than 32 million TL from 250,000 donors. 7,156 young girls have been granted three-year scholarships, 28 dormitories and 10 schools have been built in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia; and numerous trainings and social activities have been carried out within the scope of the campaign.
Scholarships were provided through the Association in Support of Contemporary Living (ÇYDD). The libraries of the girl dormitories were filled with books. Almost 20,000 books were distributed upon the requests of village schools. So far, many of the senior students staying in these dormitories passed the university entrance exam.
Furthermore, the Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV) provided seminars for the parents, the Private Schools Association for school administrators; the Ministry of Education and Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation (TAPV) for female students, dormitory managers and teachers.
To create awareness about volunteerism among the young, the Daily started to cooperate with the universities. Social responsibility was added to the curriculum, and social responsibility classes were initiated at Sabancı University and Işık University, visits to girls' dormitories were arranged for university students.
A vast number of individuals as well as companies, ranging from students who donated their pocket money to various Governor's offices , from the Hacı Ömer Sabancı Foundation to Limak Holding, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, Petrol Ofisi, Turkish Economy Bank, Eczacıbaşı Group, Kamil Koç, Sunexpress and Masters Training, Metro Group, Garanti Bank, Enka Foundation, Oriflame and Siemens were among the supporters of the campaign.
While carrying its efforts in economical and social platforms, the Daily has been giving special coverage to the problems in girls' education in order to create public opinion, which contributed to the resolution of some structural issues such as the assignment of female administrators for girls' dorms and amendments on scholarship regulations.
It is believed that the added value of the campaign is higher than it is reflected in the reports. With the raised consciousness created by the campaign, families began sending their daughters to school and school administrators started visiting villages to recruit girls.
The 'Dad, Send Me to School' project has won 19 prestigious awards so far, including the IPRA United Nations Special Award and the Most Admired CSR Project Award three years in a row, based on surveys held by Capital Magazine.
Milliyet's objective for 2009 is to work towards improving the quality of life for girls and ensure the continuity of the campaign. For Milliyet, this movement will keep growing until Turkey doesn't talk about girls who are not being educated in schools.
Dad, Send Me To School