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This is Muş, its road is uphill, whoever leaves never returns, I wonder why
This folk song made the fate of Muş known to the world;
that its road is uphill and that ones who leave never return there.
However, the reality is much different in Muş.
People who left are now returning to the city, and those who come want to stay.
Melahat Aydın has been working as a teacher for nineteen years.
She was appointed to Muş four years ago. Shortly after, she was appointed as
the Principal of a girls' regional elementary boarding school.
Melahat Aydın became the first and only woman principal of
530 regional elementary boarding schools across Turkey.
As soon as she took up this position, she began searching villages for girls
who were forced to stop going to school so that they could work on fields.
The Ministry of Education introduced a program called "Catch-up Education."
Our project is based on this program.
In the beginning, we identified five villages for our project.
We prepared a road map and formed a "persuasion team".
We identified students who dropped out of school,
and investigated reasons behind this.
Then, we established our "persuasion" team, consisting of fifteen teachers.
This team split into five smaller teams of three teachers each,
and went to the identified villages. We talked to families, village headmen
and imams (religious officials) to ask for their support.
- Did you go to school? - Yes.
- Until what grade? - Fifth grade.
We first talked to families in order to emphasize the importance of
education for both boys and girls.
Then we offered educational seminars on girls' schooling and
on communication among family members.
Participants never viewed us only as people offering them
information in a classroom.
We have always been part of the community.
The last time we visited a village, we had an interesting experience.
As they never encountered a woman principal before,
they did not know how to address me.
They came up with a new title in order to address me,
which entertained them very much.
We were not intimidated by the obstacles we faced.
Transportation to the villages was fairly easy,
as there are roads reach all of them. We also did not hesitate to ride horses
to visit some remote settlements that cannot be reached by car.
Melahat Aydin and her friends reached these girls and their families despite
steep obstacles. They shortened the distance between the city and the village,
and thereby convinced families to send their daughters to school.
Smiles on the students' eyes were
as bright as the snow in their village.
Most villagers had an unfriendly approach towards education and
sending their daughters to a boarding school.
Comparing our students' initial conditions
to their situation now, I see a great change.
They are happy, they can truly be children now.
When they first came here, I saw sadness and stress in their eyes,
they used to act like housewives at this age.
But now, I see joy in their eyes, I see them acting their age.
When Melahat Aydın and her friends initiated the "Another Chance" project
under the European Union's Human Resources Development Operational Program,
their goal was to help 100 students return to school.
As a result of our efforts, we reached our goal of
returning 100 students to school.
We first talked to students who were enrolled in our school,
from our school's registry.
In addition, we also approached students from other schools
to support their return to education.
Children whose parents were convinced five months ago by Melahat Aydın
now received their first report cards.
Ms. Aydın and her friends visited these households again,
but this time to show the report cards to children's parents.
These report cards noted that Melahat Aydın, her colleagues, families and
students were all Changemakers, and all received good grades.