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THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE

Case Summaries

About the Claim of Discrimination Based on Disability and Violation of Right to
Education
The applicant stated that his son who was at the age of pre-school education had a
physical handicap and that his son and his family were exposed to “discrimination”
by the kindergarten teacher in the school where his son was registered as an inclusive
student upon the guidance of the Counselling and Research Centre. The applicant
claimed that the exercise of his son’s right to education was hindered and requested
the provision of necessary conditions for his son to continue to exercise his right to
education.
As a result of the examination and investigation conducted by our Institution, it was
found out that the breach of the right through “discrimination based on disability”
resulted from the acts of the teacher and that “discriminatory treatment” by an
education provider towards a child in a learning environment required, beyond a
penalty, finding and eliminating the main reasons underlying this negative treatment in
order to protect the best interest of the child and raise the future generation properly;
in this regard, administrative penalties to be imposed on the teacher were considered
to be inadequate in developing positive attitudes and behaviours in a person. It was
evaluated that in order to change the negative behaviours and attitudes, taking measures
by identifying and eliminating the motives (lack of education/capacity, practice,
inadequacy of support services and physical infrastructure of the school, insufficient
number of staff members etc.) for the teacher in acting in this manner was necessary
for the protection of the best interest and rights of the children served by the teacher.
14
Within this scope, it was decided to submit a Recommendation to the Ministry of
National Education on the following issues:

1. Mindset-shifting on-the-job training must be provided to the teacher, who is the
subject of the complaint, in order to ensure that the teacher can change the negative
attitudes and behaviours towards the students with special needs with a view to
reminding the teacher of the duties and responsibilities in the field of education
for children with special needs, eliminating the lack of knowledge in line with the
legislation and developments on the rights of persons with disabilities and increasing
the capacity and awareness;

2. Relevant to mainstreaming (and inclusion) in our country; the problems and
their reasons must be identified in detail through a comprehensive and up-to-
date examination and investigation to be conducted by the administration within
the framework of an inclusive approach where the needs and demands of all the
stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers and administrators, will be
considered;

14 Recommendation dated 18/04/2019 on the application no. 2018/12500

86 2019 ANNUAL REPORT