Working toward better education

A Turkish bank is taking greater steps in its long-term training project with the aim of contributing to shaping a Turkish education model that encourages questioning and research.

The Teacher Academy Foundation, or ÖRAV, a non-profit organization that was set up two years ago by Garanti Bank, has led the bank’s training project to support teachers’ social and professional development.

The project, “Teachers have no boundaries,” has aimed to help teachers keep up with the needs of the 21st century.

The Education Ministry has also supported the project.

Garanti Bank donated 15 million Turkish Liras to this project, which started during the 2008-2009 education term.

The main goal of the training is to help primary education teachers in their efforts to adapt curricula-related changes to their practices in the classroom.

Over 5,000 teachers have been so far trained in 14 provinces as part of this project. The foundation aims to train 100,000 teachers over the next five years.

Twelve full-time employees and 65 part-time employees are involved in the volunteer training project that rapidly spread throughout Anatolia. The project set a good example to show what can succeed with volunteer efforts and a scientific approach.