TİKA Continues to Support Educational Infrastructures in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) offered hardware support to the Kiseljak 1 Elementary School located in Kiseljak, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

TİKA added to its lists of projects aimed at improving the quality of education along with school conditions and capacities by launching another project in the Central Bosnia Canton.  Kiseljak is 30 km away from the capital Sarajevo, and has a population of 20,722, 40% of which consists of Bosnians and 60% of which consists of Croatians.  Founded in 1972 in Kiseljak, the Kiseljak 1 Elementary School has 757 students, 48 of which are Romanian, and 87 teachers.  The school is a regional school and consists of the Gromiljak Regional School, the Bilalovac Regional School, and the Hrastovi Central School. During the on-site inspection conducted in the project proposal phase, it was found that the physical conditions of the school were inadequate.  It was found that although the tables were roughly 40 years old and were no longer usable, they were unable to be renewed due to financial reasons.

The implementation of the project contributed to the improvement of educational conditions and allowed students to receive education in a better environment.  As part of the project, educational equipment was provided. The opening ceremony was attended by the Undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Sarajevo Halil Ümit Cemaloğlu, the Vice President of TIKA Dr. Birol Çetin, Representatives from the Central Bosnia Canton, Representatives from the Islamic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Representatives from the Turkish Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, school administrators, teachers, students, and parents. School Principal Nermin Merhemic stated that they had not received such valuable support until then and that this support was of great importance to them. Merhemic expressed that they were grateful to TIKA and Turkey for the project and that she was certain that improved educational conditions for students and teachers would contribute to the overall success of the school.

During his speech, Vice President of TİKA Dr. Birol Çetin stated that TIKA realized 2000 projects per year in more than 150 countries and contributed to the development of countries by implementing a total of 23,000 projects between 1992, the year it was founded, and 2017. Çetin added that Turkey provided 6 billion dollars’ worth of development aid in the year 2016 and that in terms rankings based on the ratio of aid provided to national income, Turkey was the country that provided the most aid. Moreover, Vice President of TIKA Birol Çetin expressed that of the countries that projects are implemented in, Bosnia and Herzegovina has special significance for TİKA and Turkey. Dr. Çetin added that the Sarajevo Program Office, which was established in 1995, launched nearly 800 projects in a variety of fields including education, health, agriculture, animal husbandry, and the protection of cultural heritage in several regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Following the Turkish and Bosnian poems that were recited and the folk dance performed by the students, the students and teachers visited the classrooms that were provided hardware support.