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The “Dad, Send Me to School” Campaign launched on April 23, 2005 is the latest and largest chain in Milliyet’s long history of social responsibility projects. As part of the campaign, the issue of girls’ enrollment in school was identified and a series of activities were organized to supply material support and to raise social awareness of the issue.
The brainchild of Hanzade Doğan Boyner, Vice Chairman of Board at Doğan Gazetecilik, this extensive campaign prioritized 15 provinces. Milliyet, pioneering the campaign, contributed TL 1 million to the “Dad, Send Me to School” Campaign and many institutions gave their support with respect to new dormitories, classrooms and scholarships.
The main target of the “Dad, Send Me to School” Campaign was to mobilize an educational campaign throughout Turkey to make sure that all girls enroll in school. It was organized on three pillars; supplying material support, raising social awareness and organizing activities aimed at overcoming structural problems.
Throughout the four and a half years since the Campaign’s establishment, Milliyet and various other institutions constructed no less than 29 dormitories, approximately 7,156 girls received educational scholarships and 11 elementary schools were completed.
In cooperation with the Mother & Child Education Foundation (AÇEV), training seminars were organized with 500 parents in five provinces with the theme “My Child and I”. Special two-day-long training sessions were held for the managers of Primary Regional Boarding Schools (YIBO) and Primary Schools with Hostels (PIO). Girls staying in dormitories were offered music classes. The Kamil Koç Otobüsleri (Bus Company) provided the furniture and supplies for the common areas in the dormitories.
In addition, a multi-faceted group effort was started as part of the Social Awareness Class of Sabancı University, Kars Merkez Vaksa Girls’ Dormitory and Sarıkamış Milliyet Girls’ Dormitory was visited. Işık University added a Social Awareness Class to its curriculum and organized various activities at the Milliyet Girls’ Dormitory.
In cooperation with the Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation (TAPV), “Health and Hygiene” seminars were given to female students staying in dormitories. Every year, for one week, auxiliary training programs were organized in Istanbul for dormitory managers and duty teachers on topics such as puberty, dormitory management, communication skills, budget management and more.
Milliyet did its part to inform the public and raise social awareness of the issues. The articles published in Milliyet were influential in helping find a solution to the problems via the appointment of female directors to dormitories and the revision of scholarship regulation. As the icon of reliability in the media, Milliyet made a nationwide appeal and received vast support from its readers.
Numerous individuals and institutions eagerly supported the “Dad Send Me to School” Campaign: Limak Holding, constructed a dormitory with donations from school children, Hacı Ömer Sabancı Foundation, governorships, Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, Petrol Ofisi granted scholarships to girls, Türkiye Ekonomi Bankası, the Metro Group, Garanti Bankası, Enka Foundation, Oriflame, Siemens and many others contributed to this effort.
Association for the Promotion of Modern Living (ÇYDD) was Milliyet’s most important and efficient partner in this project. Additional participants include the Turkish Association of University Women (TÜKD), Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation, Mother & Child Education Foundation (AÇEV), as well as the Ministry of Education and civil authorities.
More than TL 32 million was collected via donations for the Campaign. The fact that 300,000 individuals made donations is a clear indicator that the campaign profoundly appealed to the Turkish public.
It is estimated that the value of the campaign has been very high and the number of girls enrolled in schools has increased dramatically since many families were inspired by articles in Milliyet and sent their girls to school. The school directors who received training paid visits to many villages and urged families to send their daughters to school.
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