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Company: Turk Telekom, Istanbul, Turkey
Company Description: Turk Telekom is the largest provider of integrated telecommunications services. Turk Telekom is the Europe’s 5th and the world’s 13th largest fixed telephone operator. As of March 31, 2009, Turk Telekom group companies have 17.3 million land line ssubscribers, 6 million ADSL connections and 12.6 million mobile telephone subscribers supported by more than 40,000 employees.
Nomination Category: Company/Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year in Europe
Nomination Title: Turk Telekom's Schools and Beyond: For the Education of Turkey's Young
1. Tell the story about what this nominated company achieved (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
“SCHOOLS AND BEYOND: FOR THE EDUCATION OF TURKEY’S YOUNG”
In the late 1990s, compulsory education in Turkey was increased from five to
eight years. This resulted in an 89% rise in the number of students enrolled
in Turkey’s 34,000 primary schools and 7,500 secondary schools. Some 5.5
million students were jammed into crowded education spaces.
A partnership between Turk Telekom (TT), the leading telecommunications
provider, and the Ministry of Education is a first in terms of speed and
impact.
Turk Telekom, entered the scene as the major supporter of a government program
designed to construct schools. Knowing that building education spaces was not
the only answer, TT devised a ground-breaking community relations program to
customize and expand the nature and quality of the education experience for
Turkish children in selected communities all over the country.
STRATEGY
Needing to know where to build the schools and what facilities were needed, TT
availed itself of primary research commissioned by the Turkish government and
made its own investigations of students.
Drawing upon new primary research conducted by the Ministry of Education (MOE),
TT discovered:
• which regions were suffering the greatest hardships as a result of
overcrowding
• that the expenditure for each student in Turkey is about half the
amount paid by OECD countries
• and that teachers were frustrated by the lack of fresh and useful
teaching methods
Fresh primary research was also conducted amongst school children in various
communities as well, and TT learned about their aspirations, hobbies, family
lives, and the role of the school in their lives.
As a result of the research, the overall strategy was to use TT employees from
different departments, and from different regions, to drive the TT portion of
the program partnership with the MOE – beginning with the physical school
development, followed by curriculum and activities development, and a concerted
multi-media public education program to take place for more than one year.
OBJECTIVES
Drawing upon the MOE research results, TT selected communities in the most
underserved 35 provinces and conducted further needs assessments at the local
level. This was instrumental in tailoring the design of each school in each
community.
According to the student research, TT developed a curriculum approach
(described below) that was customized in each region and in each school, based
on student aspirations and interests. This was a first in Turkey: a veritable
market-driven approach to curriculum development. In this way, the program
truly became “beyond schools.”
TACTICS
During 2008, TT constructed 30 schools, 7 dormitories and 3 gymnasiums.
Enriched education programs, drawing upon the internationall
acclaimed “Vitamin” program (Adaptive Curriculum), were delivered to more than
90,000 teachers. They were trained how to implement the approach in a variety
of subjects, ranging from mathematics to art to sports. Based on the research
results, the curriculum training was localized according to the unique needs of
each town and region.
To open each school facility, TT created celebration events. These consisted
of ribbon cuttings, usually involving Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan, the top
Ministers of Education and Culture, TT’s CEO Paul Doany; school
superintendents, principals and teachers; students and their families; local
merchants and suppliers; and TT employees. At school openings in each
community, TT provided support to school staff in creating special festivals
where the students performed folkloric music and dances from their regions and
presented the cultural richness of Turkey.
EXECUTION
A multi-tiered media program was devised to inform the general public,
encourage students and teachers, and foster support from other public and
private institutions. This included a carefully constructed menu of press
conferences at the national and regional levels, public service messages on
television, radio and the internet, print flyers inserted in billing
statements, feature articles and interviews of TT-government-student-teacher-
architect spokespersons and representatives, appearances on talk shows, and
even short films and feature films which were broadcasted on state and private
television channels.
What really makes this program stand out is the productive partnership with the
Turkish Ministry of Education. This is a result of bringing many facets of TT
corporate and regional leadership together from the very start to collaborate
on program design and execution. Some very unusual facilitation methods were
used to elicit ideas and tactics from both parties.
The school children also contributed to the opening celebrations, and chose
their favorite regional dances, songs, poetry and readings that they felt were
most representative of their villages.
Another creative dimension to the program was the emphasis on regional and
local personalities, politicians, TT spokesperson, and media. Since most of
the locations were outside Istanbul, it was very unusual in the Turkish
political and media landscape to place such a high emphasis and value at the
local level.
OUTCOMES
In addition to constructing 37 school facilities by 2008, and the continuation
of construction in 2009, “Schools and Beyond” has provided training and
materials to 90,000 teachers, benefitting 24,000 students at TT schools. TT is
more than halfway towards its goal of reaching 40,000 students in 50 schools.
Many of the school facilities constructed in this program have been acclaimed
for their modern and innovative designs, yet compatible with the styles and
flavors of the neighborhoods where they are located. In many communities, the
schools provide the only facilities for sports, computer centers, reading
rooms, science laboratories and art studios. Children who had untapped talents
due to lack of amenities now are realizing their potentials as budding
athletes, artists, intellectuals and scientists.
Nearly 4.5 million people have been reached through the multi-media
communications program. But the greatest “media” consists of letters of
happiness and thanks that the school children have sent to TT. We still
continue to receive these letters, which demonstrates that the project is
reaching its goals…furthering encouraging the TT team to support more
initiatives of this sort.
2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
http://thestevies.com/IBA09Attachments/TurkTelecom/SchoolsandBeyond/
3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:
With 25 years experience managing projects in the telecommunications industry,
Dr. Paul Doany is Chairman of TTNET and is also the Chief Executive Officer of
Turk Telekom. He serves on the Board of Directors of TT’s mobile provider,
Avea and 3C Telecommunications, the parent company of Cell C. He has served as
the Chief Executive Officer of Oger Telecom (Saudi Oger branch) since 2002. He
was formerly Managing Director of the UK offices of Dar Al-Handasah, an
international consultancy with 3,000 employees, and Partner in charge of
telecommunications activities. Dr. Doany holds a Ph.D in Communications
Engineering from the University of Manchester, and M.Sc. in Digital Electronics
& Communications from the University of Bradford and a B.Sc. in Electrical
Engineering from the American University in Beirut.
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