Earthquake victim students are 'guests' in private schools but only until June

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In the whole of Türkiye, 3101 private schools affiliated with six different associations of private schools started a campaign announcing that earthquake-victim students could study at these schools for free, until the end of the second semester of this year.

Increasing the 3 percent quota that the Ministry of Education obliges the private schools to allocate for free education to poor, abandoned children or the children of the family members of martyrs to 7 percent, the private schools began to fill their vacancies with earthquake victim students.

A total of 33 thousand and 596 vacancies have been opened in these schools in total and the applications can be made over a joint website newly established called the "guest student," www.misafirogrenci.org.

The Ministry of Education is also supporting the campaign. The number of students that applied and that were accepted until now is not yet reported.

No tuition fee will be taken until June

The Directorate for Private Education Institutions at the İstanbul Provincial Education Department said that they were not able to give information about the number of students that have been enrolled.

The Directorate also informed that the earthquake victim students can continue their education until June and that no tuition fee will be taken from them.

When asked if tuition fees will be requested from the same students for the 2023-24 academic year, and how they would continue their education," the officials of the directorate said they did not have information on that and that we have to ask the Ministry of Education."

The officials we talked to at the Ministry also told bianet that there was no statement made until now about how the students who now apply to these private schools will continue their education next year.

Arık: "Rights of the child should be observed"

Education Reform Initiative coordinator Burcu Meltem Arık, said, commenting on the campaign to bianet, that the rights of the child should be observed.

Arık explained that the children from the earthquake-hit regions are quite fragile and that they have to be approached with sensitivity.

The mechanisms, other than the support for meals, books, and education, which are provided for free in the campaign of guest students are unknown the coordinator underlined. She added that one association announced that the support is for a short term, but that they aim at sustaining the links to be formed for a lifetime.

"Protection mechanisms should be established"

"We can expect these institutions to continue supporting the students with different means," Arık said. What is critical is that these children are not discriminated against, not excluded and that they can receive continuous psychological support and psychosocial support, she believes.

The coordinator of the Education Reform Initiative tells us that they are receiving information about the students coming from the earthquake regions facing bullying in their new environments. All institutions should establish protection mechanisms for the children in order for this not to happen, she says.

"The Ministry set up a monitoring mechanism"

The sooner the education routines and their continuity is established for the children the better, says Arık. It is also important that the Ministry of Education should monitor all children from the earthquake-hit regions in the short, middle, and long term and support them academically, financially, and psychosocially.

The decision to increase the 3 percent quota for scholarships in private schools to 10 percent and to allocate 7 percent to the earthquake victim students is critical according to Arık. But she also says, "We know that the Ministry has set up a monitoring mechanism; it will be important that they share this information with the public." (RT/PE)