Good education unavailable to the poor

Dilek Şen
 
According to the report compiled by the Scientific and Secular Education Movement into the system introduced to replace the Transition from Elementary to Secondary Education (TEOG) system for high school entry, pupil placement by residence will cause serious problems and injustices in Istanbul. Cihan Uyanık of the Scientific and Secular Education Movement spoke of the latest situation and problems surrounding pupil placement by residence with reference to statistics released by the Ministry of National Education in the report with the heading “There is Chaos in this System” that he presented at the meeting held yesterday at the Chamber of Architects’ Istanbul Büyükkent branch. Uyanık, saying that Istanbul’s poorest students had a high risk of being excluded, pointed out that in sub-provinces populated predominantly by poor families, since pupils could not go to private high schools, the only remaining option for them was the sole open high school. Parent of a pupil, Orhan Üstündağ, said, “We didn’t like TEOG, but now we are left longing for it. There is both great injustice in this system and also compulsion is being applied; the new system compels you to go to religious vocational high schools, open high schools and private schools. I think the religification of the education system in schools and the emptying education of content are important problems. We want this system to be done away with at once and for there to be an urgent return to TEOG. Then, a fairer system can be set up next year. Effort also needs to be made for different kinds of schools to be opened. There is a need for science high schools, social sciences high schools and sports high schools. Equality of opportunity and free and secular education is very important for Turkey’s future.”
 
Pupils will be excluded
 
According to the report, of the 220,000 8^th grade pupils who will graduate this year in Istanbul, 143,000 will be placed in high schools. Under these circumstances, 77,000 pupils in Istanbul will have to go to open high schools, basic high schools or private high schools. Some of the findings in the report are, “Considering the number of available places, it appears impossible to place 9890 pupils undergoing education in Esenyurt, 8038 in Bağcılar, 6002 Sultangazi and 4087 in Küçükçekmece in a school within the borders of the sub-province in which they live. There is an anatolian high school in Küçükçekmece with 1768 available places for 12,689 pupils; 11,000 pupils in the sub-province, conversely, will not have the opportunity of being educated at an anatolian high school. In Sancaktepe sub-province, there are sufficient anatolian high school places for three out of every hundred pupils expected to graduate. In Kağıthane, on the other hand, seven out of every hundred pupils to graduate from 8^th grade will be placed in an anatolian high school. In short, in a total of fourteen sub-provinces, namely Sancaktepe, Beylikdüzü, Bayrampaşa, Beyoğlu, Üsküdar, Kağıthane, Esenler, Sultanbeyli, Küçükçekmece, Sultangazi, Ümraniye, Esenyurt, Fatih and Bağcılar, at most ten anatolian high school places are available for every hundred pupils. Even in Şile, the sub-province having the highest number of anatolian high school places, there are such places for 272 out of every 342 graduating pupils.”
 
Unjust system
 
Association for the Support of Contemporary Living Deputy General Chair Gülsün Kaya said, “We do not fully know what kind of preference system will be used in this system. Will everyone choose schools in the city where they live? No system can be so unjust, so unclear and so illogical. An implementation of this kind has not been seen until now in our education system. The word “horrific” is not even capable of describing the situation.”