Press Centre 2006/11/09 (1): Child Protection

Minister of National Education launches Preventing and Reducing Violence in Educational Environments Strategy and Action Plan

The Minister of National Education, Dr Hüseyin Çelik, unveiled six new television advertisements and other materials targeting violence in the education environment at a press conference in the East Anatolian provincial centre of Elazığ on October 13.

The 40-second TV spots were prepared with the assistance of UNICEF and the support of the European Union as part of the Ministry's strategy and action plan for the prevention and reduction of violence in educational environments. Featuring well-known figures from the worlds of news, entertainment and sport, they aim to remind teachers, families, children and the general public of the roles that they can play in preventing or reducing violence against children. TV news presenters Mehmet Ali Birand and Tayfun Talipoğlu, columnists Fehmi Koru, actress Aydan Şener and national football team manager Fatih Terim all waived their appearance fees. A number of TV channels have agreed to broadcast the adverts free of charge throughout the school year.

Other materials which have been developed include a series of training packs to be used by administrators, teachers and parents, and a set of colourful textbook covers featuring memorable quotations, cartoons drawn and donated by popular cartoonist Salih Memecan, and messages about violence coined by children themselves. Four and a half million of these covers have been distributed nationwide to schoolchildren in grades 6-11.

Taking responsibility

The press conference was held both to present the government's new strategy and communication tools against violence in schools and to launch Haydi Kızlar Okula! -- the Girls' Education Campaign in Turkey -- for 2006-7. Also present for the occasion were members of Parliament Necati Çetinkaya, Semsettin Murat, Abdülbaki Türkoğlu and Zülfü Demirbağ, Governor of Elazığ, Muammer Muşmal, UNICEF Representative to Turkey, Edmond McLoughney, top officials of the Ministry of National Education and local dignitaries. Numerous members of the national and local press, including journalists from the neighbouring provinces of Diyarbakır and Malatya, took part. The event was broadcast live on NTV, a leading national news channel.

On June 17, 2003, we launched the Haydi Kızlar Okula! campaign together with UNICEF at a ceremony in Van, the Minister recalled.

Since then, many girls and also boys have come to attend school for the first time. We have worked harmoniously with UNICEF, benefiting from their international experience. Now we are launching a new strategy -- this time to provide education in secure, peaceful, violence-free environments.

Comparing the spread of violence among teenagers to the spread of terrorism in the world, Çelik said the most important thing was to avoid encouraging it. He stressed that the responsibility for reducing violence fell not just on the Ministry of National Education but on all sections of society. After all, children spend only 30 of the 168 hours of the week at school; the rest of the time they spend together with their families, among the local community, in the internet cafe or in front of the TV screen.

A joint effort

The anti-violence strategy and action plan has been drawn up with the participation of all divisions of the Ministry of Education and a wide range of other public bodies from the ministries of Health and Justice to the national statistical agency and from the police force to the broadcasting watchdog. According to the Minister, the incidence of violence will be identified, diagnosed and treated with the aid of a new database. Follow-up activities will then be carried out to ensure that violence does not reoccur.

If our children are becoming involved in violence, then it is something that we should feel deep inside our bones, Çelik continued. Thanking public institutions, artists, writers, UNICEF and all others who had contributed to the strategy and action plan, the Minister called for the close support of all stakeholders.

Let us not overestimate the problem, he declared, this is not a contagious disease that is sweeping the country. But at the same time, let us not take it lightly. As long as the problem of violence -- psychological as well as physical -- is not resolved in all environments in which it occurs, then we will continue to pay great attention to it.

Ahead of the UN

UNICEF Turkey Representative, Edmond McLoughney noted that the launch of Turkey's strategy and action plan coincided with the publication of the UN Secretary-General’s Global Study on Violence against Children.

One of the many shocking findings of the report is its suggestion that 1,000 children around the world die as a result of homicides every week. The report underlines that violence against children is a problem of global dimensions, and calls on all states to implement prevention strategies and to include measures to prevent and respond to violence against children in national planning processes.

McLoughney congratulated Turkey for having launched its own strategy and action plan for dealing with violence even before the report's recommendations became known. The UNICEF representative also praised the prime ministerial circular issued in July which called for steps to be taken to prevent violence against women and children, including so-called honour killings. Recalling his own unpleasant experience with corporal punishment as a schoolchild in Ireland, McLoughney described Turkey's commitment to the prevention of violence as being very clear.

Girls in schools

Speaking about the Haydi Kızlar Okula! campaign, McLoughney said that a great deal had been achieved over the past three years, but that there was still much to be done -- not only to enrol girls in school but also to make sure that they continue to attend and do not drop out.

Haydi Kızlar Okula! relies largely on face-to-face persuasion of parents who for economic or cultural reasons are reluctant to send their daughters to school.

I think the anti-violence strategy will help to make the school environment more attractive, and that girls, as well as boys, will be more likely to want to stay in school.

A willing partner

According to the UNICEF representative, the Ministry has been working hard to improve access to education, raise its quality and prevent violence. There are a lot of good things going on. I assure you that UNICEF is ready to be a partner with you and to help you to achieve your goals, he concluded.

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