The First Children’s Forum, 2000: Participating in Education
Delegates discuss the issue of participation in education beneath Atatürk’s portrait. Photograph © UNICEF Turkey 2000
Problems with education
Discussing ‘the Right to Participate in Education,’ our group focused on students’ inability to criticise the school system, teachers, disciplinary regulations and frequent changes made to the educational system without consulting the students themselves.
Our colleagues criticised adults’ peremptory dismissal of our views with expressions like You’re a kid, you don’t know what you’re talking about, you don’t understand.
They also noted the following areas that need particular attention: inter-regional and gender-based differentials; choice of appropriate subjects for study; the university entrance examination; problems related to vocational high schools and the lack of participatory methods in teaching.
They asked for action to increase awareness of children’s rights among children, adolescents and parents. They demanded the discontinuation of differential practices across provinces and schools.
Positive practices were also mentioned -- such as more wide-spread use of suggestion boxes in schools for example.
Action on education
What should be done?
Students’ participation in the development of education programs should be increased.
How should this be done?
Student opinions should be polled through surveys, etc., which should then be presented by a representative to education authorities.
Who should do this?
Student representatives and provincial/district National Education Directorates.
When should this be done?
At the end of the year and during curricular modifications
What should be done?
Discrimination among students should be prevented and equal participation and opportunity should be ensured for all students (regional, gender-based, interschool differentials, e.g., between vocational and regular high schools).
How should this be done?
Awareness of students and teachers should be raised; discrimination by teachers among students should be prevented.
Who should do this?
Guidance services to increase teachers’ and students’ awareness are needed; Ministry of National Education (MONE) should provide training to teachers.
When should this be done?
As soon as possible.
What should be done?
Student representation should be established and become fully operational at all schools in all provinces.
How should this be done?
The new regulations (on establishment of school councils) must be applied at all schools in all provinces.
Who should do this?
School administrations and provincial/district National Education Directorates.
When should this be done?
As soon as possible.
What should be done?
The right of all children and youths to participate in education must be ensured at all stages of schooling, particularly preschool education.
How should this be done?
Families’ awareness should be increased by MONE, non-governmental organisations, the press, and the media.
Who should do this?
When should this be done?
Should be continuous. However, should be increased and accelerated at the approach of each academic year.
What should be done?
The number and variety of social activities should be increased and the participation of all students ensured.
How should this be done?
Curricula should be moderated with greater focus on social activities. Financial resources and opportunities for social activities should be provided and increased.
Who should do this?
Relevant MONE units
Opinion on education
Orçun, Ankara
I’m going to talk about the education system and university examinations in particular, which I’m currently facing.
The Student Selection Examination deprives us of many things at an age when we should be more social, more active. I have university preparation courses six days a week. After eight hours of school, I have an extra four hours of courses and I go home exhausted.
After that, I’m expected to study for school and also to do the tests for the university course. My friends and I have no social life at present -- we can’t even go to a movie more than once every two months or perhaps during a week when we don’t have exams. And if we fail the university entrance exam, the system makes it hard to find a job as a high school graduate.
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 28:
The child has a right to education, and the State’s duty is to ensure that primary education is free and compulsory, to encourage different forms of secondary education accessible to every child and to make higher education available to all on the basis of capacity. School discipline shall be consistent with the child’s rights and dignity.
For those of my friends who live in hostels, the picture’s even gloomier. Some face hostel disqualification after reaching the age of 18. That’s why the university entrance exam has a disproportionately important place in the life of a17-year-old and also because the system is not vocation-oriented, those who fail the university exam are left in a no-win situation.
Saniye, Ankara
Above all, I want injustices in education to be eliminated. I attend a vocational school and there is great discrimination between students of regular high schools and vocational high schools. I’m at a great disadvantage in the university exam. While the score of regular high school students is multiplied by 0.5, mine is multiplied by 0.2, which is a great injustice. I want this to be corrected.
Murathan, Ağrı
I am also a vocational high school student. I’ve finished my preparatory year and I’m currently in high school first grade. My future looks dismal. I’m considering quitting school, but maybe the Ministry of National Education will show mercy and unblock our way in the future.
Belkis, Ordu
I’m a student in the 3rd grade at the Computer Department of Middle Anatolia Technical High School. Our State spends a major portion of the education budget on vocational schools, but the money allocated for education in general is too little, in the first place.
Frankly, I find the university entrance exam system totally irrational. I’ll take the exam this year. I’ve been attending courses for two years. The money currently circulating in the courses, in the private sector, is beyond measure. The Ministry of National Education is responsible for our education, but they don’t want to be held accountable for it. Why is it that school education isn’t adequate enough for me and I have to attend preparation courses? I have to manage two schools at once, which reduces my productivity. Frankly I can’t feel young. I think young people … are being exploited in matters like the university exam which have nothing to do with justice, equality, and common sense. That is, I think the Ministry of National Education must face up to it’s responsibility as soon as possible.
Saniye, Ankara
Families are asked to pay money to meet other requirements of the school such as management fees, etc… and I want these to be stopped. All right, maybe donations can be requested, but not all families can afford them. In the end, in Turkey today it is those who have money who can get an education, and those who don’t, can’t. So much money is collected at schools that some families no longer want to send their children to school, because they can’t meet the bills. One book costs, I don’t know, 10 million (US$6). I mean, you shouldn’t lean that hard on people.
The student is told, You have to buy the school bulletin.
If she can’t buy it, can’t afford it, if her family can’t meet the expense, how can she pay? … You say that the State’s budget is not enough
. How come there’s enough for everything else but not enough for education? We need to talk about this.
Hülya, Adıyaman
The problem we most often meet in Adıyaman is the effect of the diploma score on the university exam scores. Of course, maybe it you get it everywhere in Turkey, but as you know, education in the East is under very poor conditions. After not getting an adequate enough education, we see that regardless of region or quality, East or West, good or bad, schools are treated the same and diploma scores are graded on the same scale. We are very much against this both as a school and as a province.
Arzu, Bolu
I have an older brother who graduated from middle school (junior high school) -- he wanted to go to a super high school, but he got tossed into standby while some people with lower grades than his got admitted. It shows that connections can get you into some schools. I mean they discriminate.
Continue to the next section Participating within the Family.
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THE FIRST CHILDREN’S FORUM -- NOVEMBER 2000
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