Turkey needs 'new mobilization' to keep girls in high schools

Having achieved important progress in girls' access to primary education through a series of successful campaigns, Turkey now needs to revive the same mobilization spirit to keep girls in higher education, according to Candan Fetvacı. Staying focused remains a key issue in tackling girls' problems, the Aydın Doğan Foundation head tells the Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey has achieved significant progress in enrollment of girls at primary schools through public and private mobilization, but efforts to keep them in higher education need to be stepped up, Aydın Doğan Foundation director has Candan Fetvacı told the Hürriyet Daily News. 
The foundation has overseen the "Daddy, Send me to School" campaign across Turkey, but similar mobilizations are needed to prevent girls from dropping out of school. 

Tell us about the "Daddy, Send me to School" campaign.

In the early 2000s there was still a serious difference between girls and boys in Turkey in access to education. As we were thinking of what to do about it, Hanzade Doğan Boyner, the chairwoman of Doğan Gazetecilik who is also the charwoman of the Aydın Doğan Foundation, decided to initiate a campaign in this field. Joining hands with the Association for Supporting Contemporary Life [ÇYDD], in 2005 Doğan Gazetecilik launched the "Daddy, Send Me to School" (BBOG) campaign. At that time there was a very serious political will and resoluteness. The Education Ministry was working very intensively on the issue. 

Other foundations, as well as representatives of the private sector, also started to focus on the issue as a social responsibility project. Actually, Hanzade Doğan Boyner did not call the BBOG campaign a "project" but rather a "mobilization." With this overall...