OLD İSTANBUL

Erenköy Girls High School

Erenköy Girls High School was established in 1911 in the Mansion of Nemizade Zihni Bey in the Kabasakal neighborhood of Istanbul. It was later renamed Model School for Girls (Ottoman Turkish: Kız Numune Mektebi) and moved to the Mansion of Rıdvan Pasha. In 1916, the school was finally named Erenköy Girls High School (Ottoman Turkish: Erenköy İnas Sultanisi). The school then moved to a mansion purchased for 7,500 gold coins by the Ministry of Education from Mabeyinci Faik Bey. The school dormitory was extended by purchasing the mansion of Hacı Hüseyin Pasha from its last owner Hatice Sultan (daughter of Murad V).

Education continued at scattered sites after the school building burnt down on February 22, 1945. The school moved into the current building in the academic year 1954-55. From 1990 on, no more boarding students were accepted. Erenköy Girls High School is today an Anadolu-type high school called a "Super High School", at which education is in a foreign language, the courses are computer-aided and the classroom size is limited.

This school has educated generations of Turkish women who have achieved important social standing in Turkish society. Until 1979, it was a girls-only school, when boy students were also accepted to the school. This practice lasted for only one and a half academic years and the school never again accepted boys.