Say Yes, Spring 2006: Facing the Future

The current generation of adolescents is the largest in history.
Photograph Rana Mullan © UNICEF Turkey 2006

The current generation of adolescents is the largest in history. Without education, adolescents have insufficient resources to make the best of their lives and they will be ill-prepared to support their own families and contribute to their communities in the future. By the same token, adolescents need the support of their peers, families, communities, the media and the State itself if they are to make the most of their potential and avoid taking uninformed risks in the present.

EDUCATION

According to the Ministry of National Education (MONE) Research and Planning Committee, the gender gap in gross enrolment in secondary education was 17% in the 2002-2003 academic year -- indicating a substantial number of adolescent girls who either dropped out or who were withdrawn from the education system by their families for various reasons.

Adolescent girls have a right to take part in Turkey’s development process -- and to be educated sufficiently in order to do so
Photograph Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2006

The complex web of social mores, patriarchal values and outright gender discrimination that obstruct the right of one in eight Turkish girls to complete their education has been a major obstacle to Haydi Kızlar Okula! -- the UNICEF-supported campaign by MONE to achieve gender parity in primary education -- since its launch in 2003. The problem becomes more heavily marked between the sixth and eighth grades by which time high numbers of adolescent girls have already been committed to marriage or work or both -- and a future of domesticity and unfulfilled potential either way. This is reflected in the fact that only 23% of the female population over 15 years of age are accounted for in labour force participation rates in the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat) Household Labour Force Survey for December 2005.

The girls, their families and the State itself lose out to the outmoded pre-industrial traditions that are at the root of the problem. Turkey needs to develop her adolescent population to its fullest, vibrant potential in order to meet the demands of her developing economy. Girls, simply put, have a right to take equal part in the development process and they have the right to be educated sufficiently in order to do so.

EMPLOYMENT

Widespread unemployment, in the sense of not having a secure livelihood, continues to be a problem throughout Turkey -- even more so for adolescents who already outnumber every other age group. The Household Labour Force Survey shows that 21% of males between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed as are 22% of females. However, of the population aged 15 years or older, only 16 million males out of a total of 25 million are registered as employed and just over 2 million are unemployed. Some 5 million out of 26 million females who are over the age of 15 are registered as employed and only 682,000 are registered as unemployed.

Unemployment rates for males and females between 15 and 24 years-old are roughly equal at 22% for both genders -- much higher than other demographic groups.

Roughly 22% of males and females between 15 and 25 years-old are officially unemployed -- the unofficial figures are likely to be higher
Photograph Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2006

That said, a large portion of the population is not captured in the Turkstat figures since 29% of males and 77% of females do not officially participate in the labour force. High numbers of underemployed and underpaid workers in informal sectors such as agriculture and the service industries would probably account for a significant number of those excluded from the Household Labour Force Survey.

On the other hand, child labour statistics which are now very much out of date show that an estimated 1.6 million children between the ages of 6-17 were engaged in domestic and agricultural labour in 1999 -- occupation of the children’s time and energy that took them away from school while contributing very little in the way of a secure future for them.

Health outcomes for such high numbers of the population that are not engaged in formal labour and who are not generally covered by health insurance are negatively affected as a result. Since the unemployed and underemployed are also unlikely or unable to contribute to pensions schemes or other forms of social security in the present, they will surely face problems with financial security in the future -- Turkey’s significantly large adolescent population included.

There is no evidence to suggest that child labour figures have since decreased. However, MONE has acted to introduce a ‘catch-up’ education programme in cooperation with UNICEF, the EU, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK) and the Ministry of Justice as well as various NGOs. It is hoped that catch-up education will help some 30% of adolescents between the ages of 10-14 years who dropped out or never enrolled in school to complete their basic education, and also improve their access to secondary education.

PROTECTION

The launch of the Government’s Children First project in August 2005 will hopefully prove to be a milestone in child protection in Turkey. Funded by the EU with technical support from UNICEF, Children First or Towards Good Governance, Protection and Justice for Children as it is known formally, will:

reach disadvantaged adolescents and their families with the Family and Child Training Programme (FACT);
expand parental counselling and peer education for adolescents in vulnerable families in urban areas;
help to implement catch-up education for adolescents who are out of school or at risk of coming in contact with the law.

Violence in and around the school environment remains a significant issue for adolescents and younger children. MONE organised the First International Symposium on Violence at School at the end of March with the object of raising awareness of the issue amongst educationalists and the public alike.

Recent coverage of the issue in the media involving accounts of disciplinary abuses, bullying, violence towards teachers and two instances of students fighting that unfortunately ended in deaths in both cases are unlikely to reassure parents in many parts of the country who already require a great deal of encouragement to send their children -- especially girls -- to school. The Symposium was planned with the support of UNICEF very much prior to recent events and was designed to yield a constructive, response to the issue that would inform MONE plans to establish an entirely Child-friendly Schools (CFS) system throughout Turkey.