Page 154 - Syrians in Türkiye - Special Report

GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TÜRKİYE THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION

to 53%, and the number of high school students fell to 23%. This situation is very
problematic; the children in the upper level should be prepared for Turkish education
and directed to Turkish public schools. Additionally, school drop-outs should also be
prevented.

A significant proportion of the school-aged Syrian children in Türkiye either did not
have the opportunity to go to school, do not speak Turkish, or preferred not to study.

Boys who aged 12-13 years are included in working life while girls are not encouraged
sufficiently to go to school by their parents, and they are especially disadvantaged after
a certain age.

The provision of Arabic language education to Syrian children as well as their integration
into the Turkish education system are both of importance. Syrian children who have
been away from school and education for the last five years are at serious risk of losing
their writing and reading skills in Arabic.

Necessary planning should be carried for the more than 13,000 teachers, who are still
volunteer teachers in TTCs, so that they can teach Arabic to the Syrian children being
transferred to public schools. The “Supporting the Integration of Syrian Children into
Turkish Education System Project” aims to provide Syrian children with important
opportunities for learning Arabic.

Considering the number of Syrian children between the ages of 5-17, which exceeded
970,000 in the 2017-2018 academic year, and more importantly the alphabet and
language difference, it is clear that a system and development of capacity for Arabic
language support will require significant time and financing, and the education system
will face an additional burden caused by Syrian children. The presence of a very high
number of Syrian children in some regions further increases the capacity problem.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of National Education, we know that the
average number of students per teacher in Türkiye is 19 for primary school, 18 for middle
school, 20 for general high school, and 14 for vocational and technical high school.

In this context, it follows that approximately 30,000 additional classrooms are needed
and approximately 45-50,000 new teachers to meet the needs of all Syrian children
calculating based on 29-30 per classroom. In order for Turkish teachers to be equipped
to teach Turkish to foreign children whose alphabet is different, at least 3 months of
training will be needed; these teachers must first be sent to certification courses for
“teaching Turkish to foreigners.”

154 SYRIANS IN TÜRKİYE SPECIAL REPORT