Animals help children's physical and mental development. With animals, children learn to share, love and care for something. Hence, teachers across Turkey, encourage their students to adopt animals, especially cats, in class.
The latest adopted cat became "Tarçın" which means cinnamon in English. The students of Tuğgeneral Hikmet Akıncı Primary School in Amasya started to look after Tarçın in the garden of their school and when winter came, they built a house for the stray cat inside of the school building.
When Tarçın became a member of the school officially, the teachers and the school head started to see the difference in the children. Students started to come early to school and make little noise in class in order not to disturb Tarçın when he is wandering around the classroom.
Yavuz Kazancı, the headmaster said Tarçın has become a part of the school just like the students.
"Students miss Tarçın during weekends. He misses them as well. He welcomes all of us at the gate when we arrive on Monday morning. Students are more aware of what is happening around them and also more focused in classes. We believe Tarçın will make a great change here," Kazancı added.
Esma Meltem, one of the students, said lessons are much more fun when Tarçın is around.
"We all love him dearly. He listens to the teacher like we do. He is like our friend."
