Some 197 children were in prison on terror charges and a total of 2,767 children between the ages of 12 and 18 were in prison in Turkey as of August 1, 2017, the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses has stated, according to a report by Hurriyet daily news on Tuesday.
In response to an official question from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Onursal Adıgüzel, 1,403 of these children were in children’s educational facilities and juvenile prisons while 1,364 of them were currently in adult prisons.
The directorate also stated that 111 of the total children in prison were receiving primary school courses, 62 of them were receiving secondary school courses, 187 of them were attending distance education secondary schools, 495 of them were attending distance education high schools and 219 of them were receiving a normal education. It was stated only one was attending university.
Of those in prison on terror-related offenses, 15 of the 197 children were residing in education facilities and four of them were currently enrolled in an education system, the directorate reported.
Furthermore, “33 of the 182 children who were in juvenile prisons or in the child section of adult prisons were currently enrolled in a non-formal education system. One was enrolled in basic literacy education,” it stated.