Darussafaka Society

Darüssafaka Society was founded in 1863 with the aim of providing equality of opportunity in education to needy, talented children who had lost their fathers. Since then, it has maintained its presence with this mission of "equal opportunity in education".

Today, the 152-year old Society creates a better future for high-potential students who lost one or both parents and are from financially disadvantaged communities. At its school, the Society provides high-quality formal education to eligible students, starting at fifth grade through to the end of high school. Overall at Darüssafaka, there are approximately 1.000 students from all over Turkey.

On September 1, 2015, 130 new 5^th grade students, who qualified in the Darüssafaka entrance exam this year (held on May 31, 2015), will begin their education at the Darüssafaka Schools, on a full scholarship and full boarding status.

Darüssafaka works toward closing the achievement gap in Turkey by ensuring equal access to education. The Society is able to achieve this goal by offering full scholarships to all students who are admitted to its schools, thanks to the unwavering support of its donors. Darüssafaka Society receives no state funding. In addition to all educational expenditures, student’s daily needs such as clothing, accommodation, food, and health services are all covered by donations to the Society. Darüssafaka also supports its graduates by providing scholarships for their university education.

Each student at Darüssafaka is a member of one of the most extensive and connected families in Turkey. The sense of fraternity, and the support that comes with it, remain with our students throughout both their personal and professional lives. 

We would also like to inform you that the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

granted special consultative status to Darüssafaka Society in July 2015.Consultative status for an organization enables it to actively engage with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with the United Nations Secretariat, programmes, funds and agencies in a number of ways.

Thank you once again for making these accomplishments possible and sharing in our mission to create "equal opportunity in education” in Turkey.

Darussafaka Robotics Team “Sultans of Turkey” in the FRC World Championship!

Overall at Darussafaka, there are 959 students from 67 provinces of Turkey in the 2014/15 academic year. %49 of the students are from Istanbul whereas %51 of them come from other provinces of Turkey. Students who come from outside of Istanbul spend their weekends on campus.

During their time at school, Darussafaka encourages its students to actively engage in more than 50 co-curricular clubs and activities on campus, ranging from robotics, mechatronics and astronomy to Model UN and Destination & Imagination.

Darussafaka Robotics Team “Sultans of Turkey” enjoys the opportunity to participate in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology) Robotics Competition in the USA for the past 7 years, and make us proud. This year, Darussafaka FRC Team competed at the Orlando Regional on March 11-14 2015 and got the best result since it started to participate in the competition. The Team won 8 out of 10 matches and for the first time earned a place in the World Championship. The Team also won the “Regional Engineering Inspiration Award” which is sponsored by NASA.

As a past country champion and a winner of Judges Award, Imagery Award, Team Spirit Award and EKOCYCLE™ Cube® 3D Printer Award since their first participation, the team had another wonderful learning experience as they competed with 64 teams from around the world.

The Team competed at the World Championship which took place in St. Louis on April 22-25, 2015. Darussafaka Team, as the only Turkish team among 156 teams which participated in the World Championship, represented Turkey with pride.

Thank you once again for making these accomplishments possible by investing in the next generation of leaders to become the innovators and designers of tomorrow.

We would also like to inform you that the Darussafaka Entrance Exam will be held this year on May 31 in 21 different provinces of Turkey. All 4^th grade students who have lost one of their parents are eligible to take the exam. So far around 1.500 students have applied. We will continue to inform you regarding our exam and new students in our coming reports.