1309 (1893) Tonguç was born in the village of Tatar Atmaca (present-day Sokol) in the town of Tutrakan in Silistra, Bulgaria. His year of birth is also mentioned as 1897 due to an age adjustment procedure presumably done to help him go to Germany for schooling. His father Idris was the son of Crimean immigrant Hacı Veli and his mother Vesile came from the Turks settled in Dobruja. He was the oldest of eight siblings, only one of which was a girl. His birth name was İsmail. He took on the name Hakkı during his years as a student at the Teacher Training School. 1900-1907 After finishing four years of primary education in his village, he graduated from junior high school in three years in Silistra. 1908-1913 He worked in agriculture and rural affairs. Spring of 1914 He went to İstanbul by himself to further his education. After suffering several challenges, he was enrolled by Minister of Education Şükrü Bey as a boarding student, free of charge in the Kastamonu Teacher Training School. 30 October 1914 As the sea route was closed due to the Ottoman Empire's participation in World War I, he set out on foot and reached Kastamonu on November 14th. 5 May 1916 He transferred from Kastamonu to Istanbul Teacher Training School (student no. 810). 10 September 1918 He graduated from İstanbul Teacher Training School. He passed the state exams and was sent to Germany for higher learning. 1 October 1918-27 April 1919 He participated in the special education program tie signed for Turkish students at the Teacher Training School in Karlsruhe, Ettlingen. 19 May 1919 He returned to Istanbul by way of sea along with other Turkish students in Germany who were called back after World War ended. 1 September 1919 He was appointed to Eskişehir Teacher Training School for Boys as a teacher of Painting & Crafts and Physical Education (registration no. 62.). July 1921 He was sent to Ankara when it became apparent that the Greeks would occupy Eskişehir, it was decided that he would return to Germany to complete his education. (The visa he received from the Italian Consulate in Antalya to travel to Germany is dated 10 July 1921, His exact date of departure from Eskişehir is unknown.) September 1921-September 1922 He studied at the Fine Arts College in Karlsruhe (departments of graphics, woodwork, and illustration) and attended classes at the Physical Education Institute of Ettlingen. He participated in seminars and courses. 5 October 1922 He was appointed to Konya Teacher Training School for Boys and Konya High School as a teacher of Painting & Crafts and Physical Education. 1 October 1923 He was given the additional post of Painting & Crafts teacher at Konya Teacher Training School for Girls. 20 April 1924 He was assigned to Ankara Teacher Training School for Boys as Painting & Crafts teacher. 15 May 1924 He became a deputy director at the same school. 20 October 1924 He was appointed to Adana Teacher Training School as a Painting & Crafts teacher. 1 March 1925-12 August 1925 He was sent to England, France, and Germany to conduct research in vocational training schools. While in Germany, he studied the Rural Boarding Schools (Landerziehungsheime) and experimental schools in Leipzig. Meanwhile, he participated in a Vocational Training Seminar at the Leipzig Handcrafts Teacher Training School between 8 June and 4 July 1925. June 1925 He met with educational theorist Professor Georg Kerschensteiner in Munich. 1 September 1925 He was appointed to Ankara Teacher Training School for Boys as a teacher of Painting & Crafts and Physical Education. He established the Handcrafts Workshop at school. 11 March 1926 He was assigned to the directorate of "Ministry of Education Museum of Supplies and Classroom Equipment" (School Museum). He thus became a director in the central administrative organization of the Ministry. 1926 He served first as member and later as president of the Ministry’s Building Commission. The said Commission issued the construction of Gazi Education institute, Balikesir Education Institute, and other numerous school buildings. 10 July 1926-26 August 1326 He worked (along with invited foreign faculty members) as the director and teacher of the Work Principle Training Course opened in Ankara for primary school teachers and Painting & Crafts teachers of Teacher Training Schools. 26 January 1927 He married primary school teacher Nafia Kamil. July-August 1927 He taught the courses opened for the implementation of the new primary school curricuiums in Sivas and Ankara. September 1927 Re organized the "Classroom Equipment International Exhibition" in Ankara with the participation of thirty firms. 26 April 1928 His first child Engin was born. 1 October 1929-3 December 1929 He was sent to Europe (Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Germany) with Undersecretary Kemal Zaim (Sunel) to purchase classroom equipment. 1929-1930 During this academic year, Gazi Teacher Training Middle School and Education Institute (Gazi Education Institute) moved into its new building on Gazi Farm and the First Teacher Training School was opened here as a "practice school." 31 December 1929 He was assigned the additional position of Painting & i Crafts teacher at the Ankara Gazi Teacher Training School (Gazi Education Institute). He included the "Crafts" course he designed in the curriculum of ali departments. 1 9 November 1930 He was elected as the Chairman of Ankara Branch of i Turkish Teachers Association. 1932-1933 He established the Gazi Education institute's Department of Painting & Crafts during this academic year. Malik (Aksel), Hayrullah (Örs), Şinasi (Barutçu), İsmail Hakki (Uludağ), and Mehmet Ali (Atademir), whom he sent to Europe earlier to be trained as teachers for this department returned to Turkey and began teaching at this department. 21 April 1933-4 June 1933 He participated in the "Traveling Education Exhibition" aboard a specially designed train, in which exhibitions, classes, and conferences were offered at fourteen different locations on the Ankara-Samsun railroad. Summer of 1933 He served as member of the Board for the Preparation of the Celebrations for the 10th Anniversary of the Republic. He presided the Decoration and Exhibition committee of the Board. He organized the out-door exhibition of the Gazi Education Institute's Painting & Crafts Department he directed and the Education Exhibition at İsmet Paşa Institute for Girls. The "Six Arrows' which became the logo of the Republican People's Party, was designed in this department. January-February 1934 He worked on the committee founded by Nafi Atuf (Kansu), Director of the Ankara People's Houses, to exhibit the works, data, and documents collected for the "10th Year Celebrations of the Republic." 21 June 1934 He took on the last name "Tonguç". 1934-1935 He was the acting director of Gazi Education Institute during this period. 10 June 1935 Saffet Arikan was appointed as Minister of Culture. 3 August 1935 He was appointed as the Director of Primary Education. He requested to be the acting director instead. 24 December 1935 He submitted the report of his studies, which would pave the way of Village Institutes, to Minister Saffet Arikan. April 1936 He visited the villages of Kayseri, Çorum, and Yozgat to review the applicability of the instructor project. July 1936 The first Instructor Course was opened in Eskişehir Mahmudiye with eighty-four candidates. 23 September 1936 His second child Yalım was born. 26 November 1936 The first instructors began teaching at villages. 11 June 1937 Law number 3238 on Village Instructors was passed. 22 June 1937 He drafted the first memorandum containing the basic principles that would lead to the establishment of Village institutes (in his own words). 1 October 1937 The first two Village Teacher Training Schools were established in Eskişehir-Çifteler and İzmir-Kızılçullu. 28 August 1938-9 October 1938 He traveled to Bulgaria, Hungary, and Germany to observe primary education organizations. 14 November 1938 Trakya Village Teacher Training was opened (six months later, the school moved to Kepirtepe and the name was changed to Kepirtepe Village Teacher Training School). 28 December 1938 Hasan-Âli Yücel became the new Minister of National Education. 1939 Göl Village Teacher Training School was opened (Göl Village Teacher Training School). 7 July 1939 Law number 3704 on the Administration of Village Instructor Courses and Village Teacher Training Schools was passed. 1 January 1940 He was appointed as principle director to the General Directorate of Primary Education. 17 April 1940 Law 3803 on Village Institutes was enacted. 1940-1941 During this academic year, four Village Teacher Training Schools were converted into Village Institutes and until August of 1940, ten new Village Institutes were established, increasing the total number to fourteen in 1940, and to seventeen in 1941 (there were twenty Village Institutes by 1944). 19 June 1942 Law number 4274 on the Organization of Village Schools and Institutes was passed. 19 October 1942 A decision was made to open a Village Institute of Higher Learning to train teachers for Village Institutes. December 1942 Çifteler and Kizilçullu Village Institutes graduated their first students. The establishment process of the Village Institute of Higher Learning was initiated in Ankara-Hasanoglan with the participation of its first graduates. 13 January 1943 Law number 4357 was passed. This law enabled the establishment of the Health and Social Support Fund as well as the Building Fund, and organized the personal affairs of teachers. 6 June 1943 Initiated as a course by executive order, the project of training teachers of various fields for Village Institutes became legalized in the form of a three-year Village Institute of Higher Learning. 9 July 1943 Law number 4459 on Village Midwives and the Establishment of Village Medical Departments was accepted. The opening of "Health Departments" began in Village Institutes. 30 November 1943 The prospectus of the Law number 4274 on the Organization of Village Schools and Institutes was published. 11 March 1944 His younger son Yalım passed away. 1 March 1944 Convened under President İnönü, the Cabinet accepted the "Issue of Primary Education" as a state policy based on the report Tonguç prepared and the "Educational Campaign" was launched. 1944-1945 The construction of Village Primary Schools was accelerated during this academic year. 258 Regional Schools were opened to provide middle school, technical, and vocational education in villages. 1 May 1945 In his article entitled, "The New Year of Primary Education," published in Ulus newspaper, President İnönü thanked Tonguç in name for "the emphasis he placed on regional schools." 14 November 1945 A ceremony was held in Hasanoğlan for the first graduates of Hasanoğlan Village institute of Higher Learning and the graduates of the Health Department. 24 November 1945 Designed to fully resolve the primary education problem, the "Ten-year Primary Education Plan" was issued with a circular letter. 1 August 1946 Following the elections, Reşat Şemsettin Sirer was made Minister of National Education in the new cabinet. 24 September 1946 Tonguç was dismissed from the Directorate of Primary Education and appointed as member to the Board of Education and Discipline. 23-24 December 1946 Deputy Emin Soysal heavily criticized Village Institutes and Tonguç at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. 26 March 1949 Tonguç was appointed as a Painting & Crafts teacher at Ankara Atatürk High School's Middle School. 1 September 1950 He was put under the orders of the Ministry "as deemed necessary" by Minister Tevfik İleri without citing any reasons. 30 September 1950 Despite the Ministry's request to punish Tonguç for giving a copy of the novel Fontamara one of the teachers during his term as the General Director, the concerned State Council concluded, "there is no grounds for punishment." 5 December 1950 Tonguç filed a lawsuit at the State Council for the Ministry's refusal to declare the reasons for putting him "under the orders of the Ministry." 16 and 19 November 1951 During the secret sessions on Communist movements held at the Grand National Assembly, Reşat Şemsettin Sirer and Tevfik İleri vehemently attacked Tonguç and the Village Institutes. 10 January 1953 Tonguç asked to be retired. 27 January 1954 With Law number 6234 on Merging Village Institutes and Primary Level Teacher Training Schools, Village Institutes were officially dissolved. 16 February 1954 The State Council ruled that the decision of the Ministry "to place Tonguç under its order" had to be revoked. 27 February 1954 Upon this decision, the Ministry proceeded with his retirement. Thus, thirty-one years and three months later, Tonguç retired from active duty within the National Education organization. 25 July 1956-1 October 1956 He embarked upon an extensive tour of Europe, including The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, to study educational movements. While in Switzerland, he visited the areas where pedagogue and educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi's instruction was applied and the Pestalozzi Children's Village. 1 April 1958-27 May 1958 He was treated at the Hamburg Medical School Hospital in Germany due to his illness. 1 June 1960 After fourteen years, he visited to old Village Institute in Hasanoğlan with Sabahattin Eyüboğlu. 11-20 June 1960 He prepared the drafts of the paragraphs concerning education for the new constitution to be issued after the Military Coup of May 27. 23 June 1960 He passed away. 24 June 1960 Following a funeral participated by İsmet İnönü, friends, and students, he was buried at the Cebeci Cemetery in Ankara.
*English version is provided from the publications of İstanbul Araştırmaları Enstitüsü
His Publications (arranged by publication date)
TONGUÇ, İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, El İşleri Rehberi, Maarif Vekâleti Matbaası, İstanbul, 1927, 239 pages (Ottoman script [second edition: 1928, 241 pages]). TONGUÇ, İ. Hakkı and Faik Reşit [UNAN], Muallim Almanağı (1928-1929), Maarif Vekâleti Matbaası, İstanbul, 1928, 272 pages (Ottoman script, with some parts in Latin script...). , Muallim Yıllığı: İkinci Sene (1929-1930), Türk Maarif Cemiyeti, İstanbul, 1929, 154 pages. KERSCHENSTEINER, G., Mürebbinin Ruhu ve Muallim Yetiştirme Meselesi, trans. İ. Hakkı Tonguç, Ankara Muallimler Birliği Neşriyatı, Ankara, 1931,142 pages. TONGUÇ, İ. Hakkı, İlk, Orta ve Muallim Mekteplerinde Resim- Elişleri ve San'at Terbiyesi, Muallim A. Halit Kitaphanesi, Ankara, 1932, 254 pages (translation and layout). , İş ve Meslek Terbiyesi (Bir Taslak), Kitap Yazanlar Kooperatifi Neşriyatı, Ankara, 1933,164 pages. , Kerschensteiner, Muallim A. Halit Kitaphanesi ve Türk Maarif Cemiyeti Yayınları, İstanbul, 1933, 87 pages. TONGUÇ, İ. Hakkı and Reşat Şemsettin [SİRER], Almanya Maarifi, Maarif Vekâleti, İstanbul, 1934, 346 pages. TONGUÇ, İ. Hakkı, Köyde Eğitim, Kültür Bakanlığı, İstanbul, 1938, 520 pages. , Canlandırılacak Köy, Remzi Kitabevi, İstanbul, 1939, 233 pages. , İlköğretim Kavramı, Remzi Kitabevi, İstanbul, 1946, 464 pages. , Eğitim Yolu ile Canlandırılacak Köy, Remzi Kitabevi, İstanbul, 696 pages. , İş Eğitimi İlkesine Göre Hazırlanmış Öğretmen Ansiklopedisi, İskit Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1949,144 pages (prepared in collaboration with sixty five colleagues, and only three fascicules could be published). [No author], Resim-iş Dersleri (Sınıf: 4-5), Bir Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1951, 144 pages (İ. Hakkı Tonguç's name is not given, instead it reads"Prepared by the textbook committee of a publishing house"). [No author], Öğretmen Ansiklopedisi ve Pedagoji Sözlüğü, Bir Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1952, 636 pages. TONGUÇ, İ. Hakkı, Pestalozzi Çocuklar Köyü, Doğuş Ltd. Şti., Ankara, 1960, 72 pages (constitutes his observations on this village in 1956). RUFER, Alfred, Pestalozzi ve Devrim, trans, I. Hakkı Tonguç, Fuat Gündüzalp and Rauf İnan, İmece Yayınları, İstanbul, 1962, 200 pages (published after his death).
*English version is provided from the publications of İstanbul Araştırmaları Enstitüsü
