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TÜRKÇE

Being A Refugee Child In Ankara

IGAM Refugee Consultation and Support Hub provides support for the enrollment of refugee children in schools in
Ankara every academic year and meets all the consultancy, service and interpreters' needs during the registration process within the scope of a campaign planned.


Here are the impressions of IGAM about their experiences and experiences during the registration period of 2019-2020 academic year…


One of them is 14 and one of them is 10 years old. The two older sibilings went to school in Aleppo but they had to leave when the war began. The father is sick and deceased in Aleppo. They lost their older brothers in battle. They live with their mothers in the Altındağ-Önder neighborhood. It is a isolated house, and their neighbors are Syrian…

They are taken from their homes…

We are in front of their homes as a team within the scope of the school enrollment campaign for refugee children, as IGAM has done in every school year.


Communication Problem
We take the three sibilings and their mothers, and we set out for the first registration of the day with a shuttle service to the nearest Vocational Training Center. The school principal asks whether children speak Turkish at A1 level. Unfortunately, they don’t know. For this reason, registration is not possible and school representatives direct the children to the Public Education Center for Turkish education.

I can’t agree with anyone

While chatting in the car, we learn that they live on with the Kızılay card, their mother is suffering from diabetes and blood pressure, and we know that their biggest problems are earning money and learning the language. That's why boy wants to learn Turkish and start working to look after his family. O primary goal is to learn Turkish and then become a teacher. Turkish is important to me, I can't even agree with my friends, ”he says.

We wouldn't have done it without you”
Mother says thank you and adds:
“I really wanted the children to go to school. Without literacy, nothing happens in life. It’s such a big effort that you do… Without you, we can’t do any of this."


The main difficulties which we face in field:

  • The main obstacle to schooling is that families don’t know Turkish.
  • Schools are very reluctant to register refugee children
  • In mainly refugee populated neighborhoods, schools providetraining beyond their capacity
  • In some schools, the number of Syrian students exceeded the number of Turkish students.
  • Some schools are excessively full, there are some classes which include more than 42 students
  • Equivalence problem is a significant problem
  • In the neighborhoods, there is a holistic approach to providing Arabic consultancy services to some extent.