Since the very first day of the earthquake, the Sabancı Foundation has been working tirelessly to support recovery efforts. In Hatay, the province with the highest student population among the disaster-affected areas, the Foundation has now completed the opening of its third school. Committed to ensuring uninterrupted education in the region, the Foundation opened Sabancı Arsuz Middle School, built with steel construction, as part of its promise of “3 Schools in 3 Months for Hatay.”
The Foundation had pledged to open three schools in Hatay, one of the most heavily impacted provinces by the earthquake and home to a dense student population. The newly constructed Sabancı Arsuz Middle School will begin classes in the 2023–2024 academic year.
As part of the educational mobilization it initiated, the Foundation previously opened Enerjisa Hatay Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Reyhanlı on April 23 and Sabancı Lassa Middle School in Dörtyol on May 19. The third school, Sabancı Arsuz Middle School, was officially opened in Arsuz on June 21, completing the Foundation’s promise.
Güler Sabancı, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Sabancı Foundation, expressed her happiness at completing three schools in record time. She said that the Foundation continues its efforts with full commitment to help the earthquake-affected provinces recover and rebuild. She emphasized that one of the most pressing priorities in the region is to reunite children, young people, and teachers in a school environment and to ensure that education — which is vital for the future of the country — continues without interruption.
She added that, in this context, they had pledged to open three schools in Hatay, which has the largest student population among the affected provinces, and today, with the opening of Sabancı Arsuz Middle School, they feel both proud and happy to have fulfilled that promise. She also noted that true happiness, however, will come on the day they see children, young people, and teachers together again in school corridors, classrooms, and playgrounds. All three schools will begin accepting students in the upcoming academic year, but their mission is not yet complete. She concluded by saying that, in the centennial year of the Republic, they will continue working with all their strength to ensure uninterrupted education.
