Say Yes, Summer 2004: Haydi Gazel!

As a country in transition, Turkey is losing out on the education of 600,000 girls: educated girls will be the informed mothers and citizens of future generations, which means lower child mortality, healthier physical growth and faster economic development. In İstanbul alone, 75,000 girls are out-of-school. Gazel used to be one of them but not any more. This is her story.

I was quite anxious when we moved to İstanbul from Batman five years ago since I knew almost nobody here. I went to a fine school back in Batman where I had plenty of good friends. The lessons were more difficult in İstanbul but I loved being in school all the same, says 13 year old Gazel Değirmenci.

After the move to İstanbul, Gazel managed to attend as far as grade four -- like many girls, however, her parents took her out of school when she reached adolescence. At first, Gazel looked after her younger brother until she began work in a textile factory. She liked the factory and in any case she didn’t see how she could object to what was after all a family decision -- earning a wage was what was expected from her. She and her older brothers were supporting the family without realising how much of a burden it was for them -- or that their rights as children were being violated.

Gazel’s mother never went to school. Because of this, she was keen for Gazel to have the advantages that she never had. So she pressed the matter of Gazel’s schooling with her husband for some time but to no avail -- he was stubborn.

Then one day the school called -- it was the principal of Bağcılar Yıldıztepe Primary. My heart was beating so fast, says Gazel. The principal had a long talk with my father. Then he visited us at home with a female teacher by the name of Seher.

The teachers spoke with Gazel’s parents about the importance of a formal education and pointed out that traditional values and to some extent, outright bias in favour of boys kept most girls out of school. Gazel’s father remained stubborn, saying I went to school up to fifth grade when I was a boy and where did it get me? Fortunately he changed his mind when the teachers pointed out that finishing her education would be the only way that Gazel would escape the poverty trap and have better opportunities in the future.

Gazel is very happy now -- a militant supporter of Haydi Kızlar Okula! Through the campaign she learned that education is a fundamental and undeniable right of every child. She helps her teachers out by giving them the names of other children whom she knows to be still out of school. She herself wants to be a teacher.

Read more about Haydi Kızlar Okula! in our Programmes section. The full text of the Provincial Governors’ Declaration in support of Haydi Kızlar Okula! can be found in the UNICEF Turkey Press Centre.

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