The Collapse in Education is Registered with Official Data: Possible Duration of Education Declined, Child Labor Exploded!

ANKARA - Eğitim-İş Trade Union has prepared a report based on official data published by TurkStat and the Ministry of National Education (MEB), revealing the alarming state of the education system in Turkey and the dangerous increase in child labor. In a statement titled "Children's Education Time is Declining, Child Labor is Exploding!", the union announced that compulsory education has de facto ended and children are condemned to the cheap labor market due to poverty.

Compulsory Education Duration Decreased to Less than 12 Years

According to a report by Eğitim-İş, the Motential Duration of Education (MES), the time a child is expected to spend in education when they start school in Turkey, has experienced a critical decline:

• MES, which was 18.2 years in 2022,

• Decreased to 17.2 years in 2024.

More striking, however, is the fact that the MES, which represents 12 years of compulsory education, dropped to 11.9 years in 2024, even below the officially mandated duration. This situation was interpreted as the most concrete proof that compulsory education remains on paper.

Nearly 40% Increase in Child Labor in Two Years

As a direct consequence of the disengagement from education, there has been an explosion in child labor figures. According to the data, the number of children out of compulsory education and the number of child laborers is rising rapidly:

• Child Out of School: In the period 2023-2024, 612 thousand children were out of compulsory education.

• Number of Child Laborers: The number of child laborers increased from 619,000 in 2022 to 869,000 in 2024. This represents a staggering rise of nearly 40% in two years.

Eğitim-İş stated that this proves that children either do not go to school at all or are not protected enough to stay in school.

"Poverty and Wrong Policies Usurp Children's Future"

The union attributed the decline in education to increasing poverty, the deepening economic crisis and the wrong education policies of the government. In the statement, it was stated that the government's "we are making progress in education" rhetoric is refuted by its own official statistics:

"Children are being cut off from education due to increasing poverty. While compulsory education exists on paper, in reality children are condemned to the cheap labor market. The education system, which is regressive with sect protocols and whose public quality is weakened for the sake of rent, leaves children without school and without a future. The fact that more and more children are excluded from education every year is a violation of children's rights and a social wound."

Eğitim-İş emphasized that they will not normalize this grave picture and declared once again that they will continue their struggle for children to return to school, to prevent child labor and to strengthen equal, secular and public education.