The additional fund in the amount of 160 Million Euro was signed under the Education for All in Times of Crisis II Project executed by the Construction and Real Estate Department via the German Development Bank with the EU Financial Facility.
Mr. İsmet Yılmaz, Ministry of National Education, Mr. Yusuf TEKİN, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of National Education, Christian BERGER, Ambassador of the Delegation of European Union to Turkey, Roland SILLER, member of the German Development Bank (KfW) Executive Committee, Mr. Özcan Duman, Head of the Construction and Real Estate Department and various senior officials participated in the signature ceremony conducted within the Ministry of National Education.
The Minister YILMAZ recorded that 160 million Euro will be disbursed for the construction of 60 reinforced concrete school under the project executed with the European Union fund. Mr. Yılmaz who stated that the budget of two projects executed with EU is 475 million Euro in total, 150 Million Euro of this budget belongs to “Education Infrastructure for Resilience Project” executed by the World Bank and 325 Million Euro of this belongs to “Education for All in Times of Crisis I&II” Projects executed by the German Development Bank. The Minister Yılmaz told that “215 schools in total will be constructed after the Project completion. 60 of these schools will be prefabricated and 155 will be reinforced concrete school. With these schools, an educational infrastructure for 153.000 students with 5.160 classroom will be provided”.
“We provide the same educational opportunities with our own children”.
Mr. Yılmaz pointed that 3.558.877 Syrian under Temporary Protection have been resided in Turkey as per the data of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and told that “976.200 of the Syrian population in Turkey are at school-aged. As the ministry, we register the school-aged Syrians in the public schools gradually. We provide the same opportunities to Syrian children with our children.
Mr. Yılmaz stated that they ensure the access of 611.524 Syrians to education as of the date of 21 st May 2918. Mr. Yılmaz provided information that “Students who have accessed to education are educated at our school with Turkish curriculum. You will clearly witness the progress since 2016 comparing 62 thousand Syrian at that time. 227.232 students , all from Syria, are educated in 318 temporary education center in 21 provinces”.
Mr. Yılmaz recorded that the schooling ratio has approached to 63% and told that “Schooling ratio is approx. 40% at 5 age, over 100% in elementary school, over 50% in the middle school and approx. 22% in high school. For the first grade at 6 age, 92.000 of 113.000 school-aged population are student and the schooling ratio is over 100% İlkokul birinci sınıflarda 6 yaşta 92 bin olan çağ nüfusunun 113 bini öğrenci, okullaşma oranı da yüzde 100´ün üzerinde. For the second grade at 7 age, 81.686 of 89.000 age population are student and the schooling ratio is 91,57%. For the third grade at 8 age, 85.000 of 85.000 age population are student and the schooling rate is 100%. For the fourth grade at 9 age, 76.000 of 84.000 age population are student and the schooling ratio is 90,34%. For the fifth grade at 10 age, 5.670 of 76.000 age population are student and the schooling ratio is 67,48%. “Mr. Yılmaz expressed that they wish to increase the schooling ratio however the infrastructure is required to be completed. Mr. Yılmaz also stated that the prefabricated schools will be completed until the new education year and continued that “With the protocol today, access to education by constructing new schools in the regions where Syrian refugees have densely resided will be increased. We consider the integration of the Syrian Under Temporary Protection into education as the “saved life”. We also consider that education is the basic right of every child without discrimination. With education, we wish to educate people under temporary protection ready for life, healthy and happy individuals like our children. We have already approx. 18 million students and we add 1 million students more. This further increases our responsibilities.
“we are required to decrease the pressure over Turkey”
Mr. Christian Berger, Ambassador of the Delegation of European Union to Turkey stated that Turkey and EU have agreed on some important points on Syrian crisis. Mr. Berger told that “the most important point is a need for the solution of the political issue of Syria”. Mr. Berger stated that they waited for a long time for such a solution and recorded that they have argued that Syrians who are taken refugee under the other countries are required to be assisted. He also drew the attention to the sample works of Turkey for Syrian by providing such as refugee centers, assist and support. Mr. Berger expressed that “Neither Turkey nor EU allow for a loss generation among the Syrian children”. Mr. Berger also stated that such investments are in fact made also for the future of Syria and these children will return their country and reconstruct Syria. Mr. Christian Berger also stated that Syrian children make a great pressure on these schools and said that “we need to decrease the pressure on the schools in Turkey”. Mr. Berger underlined the importance of supporting the Syrian student at each level from pre-school to the high education and told that they have a holistic and comprehensive approach about this.
Mr. Berger told that “The provided support will include the school building included in this contract along with the assist for teachers, educational material, psycho-social support, transport service and language support both in Turkish and Arabic”. Berger also expressed that they will provide scholarship support to the student for preventing the dropout of the university education. Mr. Berger stated that other ministries notably the Ministry of Labor and Social Security continue their work.
Roland SILLER, member of the German Development Bank (KfW) Executive Committee recorded that the efforts of Turkey are an exemplary work on education and expressed that “I want to extend may thanks for your trust as an implementation partner of this important project which is also important for the future of both Turkey and Syria”.
Mr. İsmet Yılmaz, Minister of National Education, Mr. Roland Siller, Roland SILLER, member of the German Development Bank (KfW) Executive Committee and Mr. Christian Berger, Ambassador of the Delegation of European Union to Turkey signed the protocol.