Fatma Refet Angın

Fatma Refet Angın (18 March 1915–30 January 2010) was the first female high school teacher of Turkey. She was awarded Turkey's Teacher of the Year title in 1981.

She was born on March 18th, 1915. She was born to her mother Halime in Gelibolu, during the Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign. Her father Hafız Şerif, was one of the Turkish nationalists.[1] She chose teaching as her profession. During Atatürk's visit to her school in 1928, she spoke to Atatürk saying, she intends to be a school teacher. Upon Atatürk's suggestion, she chose the History branch. In 1936, she graduated from Gazi Institute for Education in Ankara, current Gazi University, as a History teacher. After serving in various high schools, she was appointed as the school principal in Antakya high school. She also served in Balıkesir and Gaziantep high schools as school principal. She took part in the Village Institutes program.

In 1981, she was recognized with the "Teacher of the Year" title as the first recipient of the award. The next year, although she officially retired, she continued teaching and also served as a consultant of the Ministry of National Education. In 2006, she was awarded honorary doctorate degree by Yıldız Technical University.[2]

Fatma Refet Angin later then died on, January 30th, 2010 in İstanbul.[3]