Top Tanzanian Bureaucrats Choose to Enroll Children at Successful Turkish Schools
Top Tanzanian state officials, including President Jakaya Kikwete and Defense Minister Hussein Mwinyi, have registered their children for Turkish schools in Tanzania after seeing how successful the schools are.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, İbrahim Biçakçi, headmaster of Feza Boys' Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, said the first Turkish school was opened in Tanzania in 1998 with 20 students and now four Turkish schools operate in the country with a total of 1,350 students.
Noting that Turkish schools became popular very quickly and their students were very successful in exams required to receive a high school diploma, Biçakçi said: “Thanks to this success, we have drawn the attention of Tanzanians. Some 2,000 students applied to one of our schools which has space for 72 students. As a result of the success of our schools, state officials also prefer our schools. The daughter of President Kikwete, Defense Minister Mwinyi's son and the grandchild of the education minister are among the children of high-level bureaucrats who attend these schools.”
Ahmet Börekçi, headmaster of Feza Kindergarten in Zanzibar, said the school, which has 90 students, drew the attention of people in the region and the school was given a certificate of appreciation.
The Turkish ambassador in Dar es Salaam, Sander Gündüz, also said: “There are nearly 250 Tanzanians in Tanzania who received their university education in Turkey. We meet with them from time to time. We are speaking Turkish in Tanzania. This is very nice. Defense Minister Mwinyi is also among those who come to the gatherings.” Recalling that they visited the Turkish schools with President Abdullah Gül earlier this year, he said the schools win medals at science Olympiads held in Africa. “Tanzanian ministers request that we help them register their children for Turkish schools,” he said. Gündüz also noted that the Turkish-Tanzanian Parliamentary Friendship Group in the Turkish Parliament also plans to open a Turkish university in Tanzania.
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