Discriminatory slogan at school tournament
During an inter-school sports tournament organized by Beyoğlu Anatolian High School, yesterday (June 11), students from the Getronagan Armenian High School played a football match against Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School.
According to the report in Agos Newspaper, the slogans were stopped after teachers and officials warned them, and the teams continued the tournament. Getronagan High School officials stated that their team would play the final match.
In the sports tournament, schools compete in football, basketball and volleyball. The matches are organized at İTÜ Ayazağa Facilities.
Last year, a student from the Üsküdar American High School football team gave a “Nazi salute” after scoring a goal in a football tournament against Ulus Private Jewish High School and the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education launched an investigation into the incident.
Getronagan Armenian High School
On September 1, 1886, the school opened as a boys' secondary and high school on the site of the Amenapırgiçyan Primary School adjacent to the Galata Surp Krikor Lusavoriç Church.
In those years, there were no post-primary educational institutions in Istanbul where children from all segments of the Armenian community could attend, and wealthy families sent their children to Mekteb-i Sultani (Galatasaray High School), Robert College, Berberyan High School in Üsküdar, or abroad.
In the great Galata fire of 1874, the church buildings and the existing primary school were damaged. Nerses Varjabetian, who was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in the same year and known as an intellectual and educator, saw the need for a higher education institution that could accommodate the poorer segments of the community and train teachers for schools in Anatolia, and requested that the renovated primary school be used for this purpose.
Derived from its location, the school is called “Getronagan”, meaning "center". The first principal of the school, which could only be opened in 1886 due to financial issues, was the writer and thinker Minas Çeraz.
Getronagan has a proud history as one of the important institutions of the Armenian community. The school, whose budget is subsidized with community donations, has a student quota of 239.
The school provides high school education to around 200 students each year and has graduated more than 3,000 students to date.
(TY/DT)