Say Yes, February 2002: Education

Traditionally, second-placed in favour of the men in their families, many Turkish women are poorly educated and compromised in terms of choice and job-opportunities. Illiteracy is common: one in five women and girls can neither read nor write. The effects extend well beyond the individual level: as primary care-giver within the family, a woman’s lack of education can be detrimental to the health and well-being of her children.

In order to address the serious health, nutritional and developmental problems facing Turkish families, the Ministry of National Education (MONE) and UNICEF introduced the Mothers Training Programme (MTP) in 1993.

Primarily based on Early Childhood Care and Development (ECD) models, the programme aims to improve the skills and abilities of mothers in taking care of their children. Through self-education, women are shown how to increase self-esteem and thus improve their status within the community.

Progress on the MTP has not been without problems, however, and UNICEF is seeking to remedy three major constraints on nationwide expansion of the programme. On the matter of expansion, there are insufficient resources to fund more trainers' salaries. The cost of training the trainers is itself a heavy burden on the unit-cost of the programme (for each mother and child pair, that is). Furthermore, replication of activities by different but nevertheless involved parties means that resources are not disposed as efficiently as they could be.

The Family and Child Training Programme (FACT)

The MTP has been re-conceptualised and renamed as the more easily applicable and cost-effective FACT, at UNICEF’s instigation. The newly conceptualised FACT is adaptable to the child’s unique environment and circumstances. By arranging a child-friendly environment and encouraging the entire family’s participation, the child’s development is enhanced within a natural setting. The broader outreach of FACT allows for access to those disadvantaged children who are most in need of the activities.

MONE is scaling-up the FACT programme throughout Turkey with the cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Village Works (MOA), Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK) in order to reach three million families by the year 2005.

Under the Country Programme of Cooperation (CPAP), UNICEF will work to promote inter-sectoral partnerships and children's rights,

Girl’s Education

It is common for children, girls especially, to opt out of primary school for economic reasons after finishing the compulsory requirement. Such children would then work either at home or in the service sector.

In 1997, compulsory primary education was extended to eight years. MONE set up the broadcast-based Open Primary Education Programme (OPE) to help children complete their studies. In partnership with UNICEF, the MONE Education Technology Department developed the Learning Centres Project for girls of fifteen years or older who would like to continue their primary education. Forty-six girls enrolled in the pilot Learning Centre at Erzurum in 1998 and continued their studies until 2001. The girls obtained training and, eventually, a diploma from classroom-based teachers in useful skills such as study techniques and information technologies.

The network of Learning Centres has expanded to a nine towns with seventeen support units in villages spread over the provinces of Van, Yozgat, Düzce and Erzurum and a new centre is opening this month in İmrahor, Ankara.

So far, nine hundred girls have enrolled to study in the programme and many of them have expressed a desire to continue their education at university. As well as improving the girls’ employment prospects, the programme also increases their self-esteem and gives them a more positive, hopeful attitude towards their future.

However, despite good results and strong public interest, the programme is expensive to run and stretches teaching resources in the already under-funded educational system. MONE and UNICEF have signed a new Protocol and Activity Plan for the coming year which will address these constraints along with further expansion of the programme.

Read more about Haydi Kızlar Okula! -- the campaign to eliminate the gender gap in primary school enrolment rates by 2005 in Turkey.

A Gender Review in Education, Turkey 2003 is an analysis of the various factors that affect girls’ education in this country. ‘Claiming the Future’ -- an interview with Dr Nur Otaran, the coordinator of the document, is featured in the Summer 2003 issue of ‘Say Yes’.

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Youth groups collected signatures in the busy shopping malls and trendier streets of Ankara where many of their peers tend to congregate. Some enterprising groups opened stands publicising Say Yes for Children and its founders, the Global Movement for Children (GMFC).