İsmail Hakkı Tonguç (1893-1960) 

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

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