A Turkish education union said in a recent report that students have started the new school year amid severe economic and systemic problems, Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish service reported.
According to the Education and Science Workers Union (Eğitim-Sen), students are faced with rising prices of basic food items, stationery, school fees and lack of safety. Such factors have pushed more and more children out of school and into the workforce.
Simge Yardım from Eğitim-Sen said stationery prices had increased by 70 percent over last year, and many students skip breakfast and/or miss lunch. Schools do not provide free meals in Turkey; therefore, students have to either buy lunch at school or bring food from home.
However in the current economic crisis food costs have skyrocketed, and the price of essential food items that would normally be in a school lunchbox has increased by at least 42 percent over the past year. Rising costs have disporportionately affected female students, who were more likely to be pulled out of school by their families in comparison to boys.
In addition to existing economic problems, many public schools are demanding registration fees or mandatory “donations” from prospective students. Such fees can reach up to 50,000 Turkish lira (approximately $1,500), a high price for poor families and families with several children. According to some reports, there have been instances where schools have asked for 120,000 Turkish lira (approximately $3,500).
Yardım said such demands contravened regulations but were nevertheless made by many schools, especially those known to have a better academic record.
Every year parents have expressed outrage over such school demands, and they have been supported by lawyers, who agree that it is against regulations to ask families to pay registration fees or donations. Parents said school administrations have tried to justify these demands by saying they are underfunded and that there are no state funds to pay for amenities.
When approached by journalists on the matter, schools deny ever asking for such fees, but hundreds of complaints from parents can be found on online forums. Unions have criticized the Ministry of Education for not imposing stricter regulations and for failing to penalize school administrations for forcing parents to pay.
Economic problems are not the only hurdles students have to confront this year, as the most recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report found that gangs had become a serious problem in schools and 28 percent of students were reported to be threatened with injury by a peer. According to several news reports some students have been carrying guns or knives to school.
Eğitim-Sen said violence in schools was worryingly common and that a clear prevention policy was needed. Last academic year, there were instances where teachers were attacked by students or parents. One teacher, identified as Y.K. by Turkish media, was killed in May by a parent. Unions said additional security measures, such as metal detectors at entrances, should be installed.
“Additional security measures are crucial for the safety of children and teachers,” said Kemal Irmak from Eğitim-Sen. “Anyone who wants to enter a school should at least pass through security.”
