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What is the duty of a district governor?
Is it to ensure security of its residents, to make the necessary appointments
and to listen to complaints?
Or is it to build the future of the district
by initiating projects geared towards children?
The guitar you are hearing is not being played at a city public school
located in a large wealthy neighborhood, nor at a private school.
This is the Sürmene District of Trabzon,
and this music is coming from a village school,
located on the mountains of Sürmene.
Behind the success story of this unique school,
there is a change-making district governor.
Mustafa Özarslan, the District Governor of Sürmene,
is an idealist who completed part of his studies abroad.
After working as a governor in various districts of the country,
he was appointed to Trabzon's Sürmene District in 2008.
And that was where his change-making story began.
Upon realizing poor physical conditions of public schools
and the low success rate of students in the District, Mustafa Özarslan determined
to develop a project for the schools and the students.
- I found out that our district, Sürmene,
ranked 402th among 923 districts in primary school rankings
For that, we set our main goal as improving our educational ranking.
First we aimed to develop best practices in our city of Trabzon,
and then promote these best practices across the country.
And on the global scale, I wanted our children
to have the same kind of educational opportunities as
their peers in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo.
This became my primary goal.
Like a captain deciding on his route,
Mustafa Özarslan identified his main goal and began his journey.
He initiated a project called "Superb Classes" and
started the change with the chalk and the blackboard.
Afterwards, with the help of all active architects
and academics in Sürmene, he began to transform
all educational institutes in the District.
All 145 classrooms of the 12 schools in the District were renovated.
From the walls to the desks, these classrooms were transformed
entirely and equipped with projectors and computers.
Nowadays, smart boards are being installed to the classrooms.
And consequently, a visit to
this remote village school, a school located between two
mountains, leaves you speechless.
This project does not solely aim at improving the physical
conditions of schools. The quality of education is also
being improved with globally adopted methods.
There is no recess in the "Superb Classes" as students are encouraged
to improve their time management skills without it.
Projects, such as the
"Community Leaders of Tomorrow" help students build self-confidence.
What also makes this project very valuable is the communiy
mobilization and support for it. The entire project was financed
by the local community without any state assistance.
- I believe that these students, just as they are taking ownership
of their school, behaving reponsibly in all school places,
keeping their washrooms, schoolyards and hallways
clean and acting in an organized and synchronized manner today,
they will keep the same approach in their districts
and cities in the future. The hallways of our schools
will become the streets and avenues.
Not only will they take ownership of public spaces
but also they will protect and improve them.
Mustafa Özarslan followed his dream. Besides fulfilling his official duties,
he also managed to fulfill his own hopes and dreams.
He identified the problems in the field and developed solutions for them.
He made a significant difference in the lives of the children
and in the future of the Sürmene District.