Those Children Who Cannot Go To School…

14 million students and 662 thousand teachers have started the new school of 2008-2009, but there are also those who could not take their place in the classrooms.

Poor children, challenged children, girls and those who have to work.

According to the results of the work the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) did for the period of October-December 2006, with the support of the International Program to End the Child Labor by the International Labor Organization (ILO), 958 thousand of the 16 million 264 thousand children between the ages of 10 and 17 work.  

Although children have to complete their eight-year mandatory primary education, every year those children who are seasonal workers continue to work on the fields when their friends are taking their places in the classrooms. The work season starts before the schools end and continues after the schools start. According to the experts, one way to stop this is to inspect if the parents are sending their children to the schools as required by the law.

Challenged children’s right to educate…

According to the information Ruhi Uzunhasanoğlu had given to bianet in July, there is a new bill in the assembly that intends to limit the state support to the education of the challenged children with one year.

“The challenged children have been receiving education in special rehabilitation centers for three years now. The state supports these centers financially for 6 to10 sessions a month, which is just what is given in a month. Is it enough? This is special education. In other words, they have to receive kind of education that is different from what other children receive. The state wants to end this because it is too expensive. What will happen to these children?”

Sexual inequality in education

In Turkey, the number of girls in school is lower than the number of boys. According to a 2008 Humane Development Report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the young women are not equal to the young men in education because of the conservative mentality that feeds the sexual discrimination in Turkey.

There are still many children in Turkey who cannot receive the necessary and mandatory primary education. (NZ/EÜ/TB)