OHS Council Report: "We Are Against Child Labor, Not Vocational Education! At Least 72 Child Laborers Lost Their Lives in One Year"

ISTANBUL - The Worker Health and Worker Safety (ISIG) Assembly has published a striking report on child labor deaths in the 2024-2025 academic year. In the report, it was stated that at least 72 children lost their lives while working in the last one year as the new academic year started, and it was emphasized that child labor deepens on the axis of poverty and precarity and is legitimized by state policies.

10% Increase in Child Labor Deaths

According to the DISIG Assembly, between September 2024 and August 2025, that is, in the last academic year, at least 72 children lost their lives while working. This number represents a 10 percent increase compared to the previous period (66 child workers had lost their lives in the previous period). The ISIG Assembly stated that it defines all children under the age of 18 as "child workers" and added that 14 more workers who were 18 years old lost their lives in this period and some of them may also be included in the definition of "child workers."

The Backbone of Child Labor Shifted from Rural to Urban Areas

An important point in the report is that the main backbone of child labor has shifted from rural areas to urban areas. The sectoral distribution of child labor deaths in the last year is as follows:

• Agriculture: 20 children (28%) (14 workers, 6 farmers)

• Industry: 19 children

• Construction: 17 children

• Service: 16 children

In the report covering the last 12 years released in June, it was reminded that the average child labor death rate in agriculture was 53 percent, and it was stated that although this rate has decreased to 28 percent recently, child labor deaths have moved to urban centers and Organized Industrial Zones (OIZ) with the increase in urban poverty. ISIG Assembly reacted to the deaths of children like Zeliha, İbrahim and Abdullah in hazelnut orchards despite "PR efforts" to prevent child labor in agriculture.

MESEM Program and the Legitimization of Child Labor

The DISIG Assembly also made important evaluations on the MESEM (Vocational Training Centers) program. The MESEMs are a continuation of the "Apprenticeship Training Centers" that existed until the end of 2016 and are a massified child labor system that is more integrated into the education system. It was emphasized that 505 thousand of the students within the scope of MESEM are children under the age of 18, meaning that child labor is legitimized with the practice of "one day at school and four days at the workplace".

In addition to filling the cheap labor reserves of capital, MESEMs also provide direct financial support to bosses and the paltry wages paid to MESEM workers and students are paid from public funds, the report said. The Ministry of National Education (MoNE) opened "craft workshops" for all students from the 7th and 8th grades and expanded "vocational middle schools", lowering the age of vocational education to 10 years old. It was also reminded that at least 15 students/child workers lost their lives while working in industry or construction within the scope of MESEM in the last two academic years.

Capitalism's Exploitation of Children and Policy Documents

The DISIG Assembly argued that the legalization and formalization of child labor is a result of the aggressive growth strategy of Turkish capitalism and has become one of the methods to reduce labor costs. According to TurkStat data, the frequency of participation of children in the 15-17 age group in the labor force reached 24.9 percent in 2024 and it was announced that there were 970 thousand child workers, but it was underlined that the number of child workers in Turkey reaches 3-4 million when children from MESEM, unregistered workers and workers under the age of 15 are included in this number.

Documents such as the Medium Term Program (MTP), Development Plan and National Employment Strategy state that vocational education policies regulate child labor according to the needs of the market, that curricula will be updated in cooperation with the private sector, and that internship and on-the-job training programs will be expanded. These documents allegedly legitimized the exploitation of child labor with key concepts such as "the virtue of work" and "acceptable citizenship."

Requests as the 2025-2026 Academic Year Begins

As the 2025-2026 academic year begins, the DISIG Assembly listed its demands as follows:

1. Child labor should be banned: MESEMs should be closed, vocational education should be in accordance with child development and within the framework of public rules.

2. Education should be completely free: The 4+4+4 system should be abandoned, the curriculum should be renewed in the light of reason and science, one meal should be provided in schools, the needs of poor children should be met by the state, and the resources allocated to education in the budget should be increased.

3. Living spaces should be cleaned: They should be made suitable for children's development, free from drugs and gangs.

4. Create a strong youth movement: Fight against child labor, futurelessness and paid education with the awareness that it is part of the working class struggle.

The DISIG Assembly concluded its statement by emphasizing the need to organize, struggle and resist with the awareness that expressing these demands within the system alone does not make sense.

Source: OSH Council