Children-Under-Risk Denied Access to School Founded for Them

The boarding school designed for children under risk as part of the European Union (EU) project to support primary education will not be opened for lack of enough students; it will be turned into a different school. The school is in Arnavutköy, İstanbul.

Arif Dede, the District Director of Education, told bianet that they were closing the school because only 53 students had registered.

Since the decision was made only four days before the start of the new school year, the 53 students are without a school now. 15 of these students are the children of the battered women living in the Purple Roof Women Shelter Foundation.

It is not clear which institution made the decision and what the reason was to give up the idea of a 280-student school for the children under risk.

Their mothers had already made their plans, since their children were to be in a boarding school

Zelal Yalçın, a volunteer for the Women’s Shelter says that since nobody tells them which institution is behind the decision they are unable to say with whom they are dealing.

Yalçın insists that the school should be opened as required by the European project, since it is part of it. She says they have already communicated the problem to Ambassador Marc Pierni, President of the Turkish Delegation for the European Commission, and are waiting for his reply.

“I am sending those who come to the neighboring provinces”

District Director of Education Dede says that they cannot start the school with 53 students, since there are classes with one to three students under these conditions. Therefore he says that they are forwarding the new applications to schools in the neighboring provinces. However, when he was reminded that if he had accepted these new applications the number of the student could have increased to the needed number, he declined from giving a real answer.  

He simply does not think he is responsible for the children who will have to make different arrangements, some perhaps going back to their adverse conditions. (NZ/EÜ/TB)