More than 600,000 Syrian children have been enrolled in the education system for the 2018-2019 school year, according to Turkish Education Ministry data, state-run Anadolu Agency said on Sept. 26.
Over 600,000 Syrian children schooled in Turkey: Ministry data
27 Sep 2018 - 13:33
More than 600,000 Syrian children have been enrolled in the education system for the 2018-2019 school year, according to Turkish Education Ministry data, state-run Anadolu Agency said on Sept. 26.
There are 1,047,999 Syrian school-aged refugee children in Turkey, the agency said, citing the data figures as of September provided by the General Directorate for Migration in the Turkish Interior Ministry. This figure has been gradually increasing over the years, as it was reported as 833,039 in 2016.
School-aged Syrian refugee children are enrolled in either Turkish public schools or temporary education centers in the country. In an attempt to foster an integration between Syrian and Turkish children, the Turkish government aims to close the current temporary education centers gradually and transfer the students to public schools.
In this respect, for the first time this year, the authorities have made enrollment compulsory for first, fifth, and ninth grade Syrian children in public schools (instead of temporary education centers). Students in other grades are similarly expected to join public schools in the next education year. The Turkish government’s measures led to a 100 percent increase in the number of Syrian children enrolled in public schools this year compared with the data of last year.
The number of temporary education centers was 370 as of Sept. 2017, whereas this figure now stands at 282. The authorities have made the decision not to open any further temporary education centers in the new school year.
Temporary education centers teach an accredited curriculum in Arabic, so in order to integrate Syrian children to the Turkish education system and remove issues related to language, Turkish language lecturers are employed as part of the project “Promoting Integration of Syrian Children to Turkish Education System” (PICTES).
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