The Turkish Ministry of Education has announced a cutback in its student transportation program, raising concerns about access to education in rural parts of the country.
According to the Artı Gerçek news website, the new regulation reduces the allowable school transportation distance from 50 to 30 kilometers. Primary and secondary school students living more than 30 kilometers from their schools will be directed to boarding schools. Villages with fewer than 10 students have also been removed from the program.
Many parents have voiced concerns about the cutbacks, saying they don’t want their children to stay in boarding schools.
“I want my child to come home in the evening; I don’t want them staying in a dormitory,” Haydar Sağlam said.
Rıza Akgül, another parent, expressed concern over the financial burden. “We don’t have the means to transport our kids to school,” he said.
According to experts, access to education in Turkey’s rural and economically disadvantaged areas has long been a challenge. For families in remote villages, the school transportation program has been vital. The reductions could widen educational inequalities, making it harder for rural children to receive consistent schooling.
According to Kemal Irmak, president of the Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim-Sen), in the past many village schools were closed and students were forced to travel long distances. “Now, even transportation is being restricted,” Irmak said. “This will exclude poor children from the education system entirely.”
Ali Kaplan, the village head of Yalınyazı in Tokat’s Zile district, which has been cut from the program, said many parents in the village will not be able to send their children to school.
Barış Atasever, also from Yalınyazı, voiced fears about religious pressure. “There are already compulsory religion classes in schools. I fear that my kids will be subjected to religious pressure in dormitories,” he said.
