‘Distance education system claimed our son’s life’

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After his father Önder Mert got on the roof to run the Internet cable from the neighbor's house so that he could access distance education, 8-year-old Çınar Mert followed his father. As his foot slipped, the child fell from the fourth floor of the building and lost his life.

The incident happened in the district of Esenyurt in İstanbul. As reported by Eylem Nazlıer from daily Evrensel, father Önder Mert has said that they saved on everything else so that they could buy their son a computer and their son could get distance education on the Ministry of National Education's EBA distance learning system amid pandemic. 

"My son did not even open the lid of that computer," father Mert has said and added, "What was done was done to our child. Neither EBA nor anything else can bring him back to us now. Education was supposedly free, right? It was supposedly equal for everyone? They have reset our education system. They have made a mess of it. It has torn our hearts out. What can we say?"

'There is a problem with Internet infrastructure'

Mert has said that as there is a problem with the Internet infrastructure in the neighborhood, they could not have connection for a long time.

Speaking about the day of the incident, Mert has said, "As the state does not give the Internet and we do not have our own, I got on the roof to run the Internet cable from the neighbor's house to use it for some time.

"Because they said that 'as there was a problem with the infrastructure, it would be set up within 10 days.' My son said that he was lagging behind in his studies. He insisted a lot. I spoke to the neighbor and got on the roof. He naturally followed me, he was just an eight-year-old child. While I was working, he fell to the air well.

'Education is free, right?'

"EBA has caused the death of our [son]. We had been struggling with the EBA for days. It did not work out and it has claimed the life of our son. My son is gone. We celebrated his birthday on September 9.

"My son entered the system on the phone for two-three days, but he could not continue as we came short of it. We used up our mobile data. We bought a computer by saving on everything. It came on that day. My son did not even open the lid of that computer. What was done was done to our son. Neither EBA nor anything else can bring him back to us now.

"Don't let other people hurt. Give the Internet for free. Education was supposedly free, right? It was supposedly equal for everyone? It was supposed to be free..." (RT/SD)