French schools to halt first-grade admissions in Turkiye

The French Embassy in Turkiye had previously announced that its affiliated schools, Charles de Gaulle and Pierre Loti, would stop admitting Turkish students. Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin had indicated that they were in dialogue with the parties involved regarding foreign schools in Turkiye. The Ministry of National Education (MEB) has now provided a written update on the agreements reached in the ongoing negotiations concerning these schools.

The statement clarified that until an international agreement granting these schools legal status is finalized, no new Turkish students will be admitted. "Starting from January 1, 2024, and covering the 2024-2025 academic year and beyond, no new Turkish students will be admitted to the first grades of the kindergarten and primary school sections of Charles de Gaulle and Pierre Loti schools. Similarly, no new transfer students will be accepted into the intermediate grades," the statement said. Educator Nurcan Korkmaz commented on the development to our newspaper, Cumhuriyet.

Korkmaz emphasized that these schools are not newly established in Turkiye, saying, "The MEB’s statement is essentially a temporary solution to a problem it has created. The real solution lies in establishing Republic schools that provide high-quality, scientific, public, equal, and free education, making it unnecessary for any child in the country to attend such foreign schools."

MINISTERS ALSO PREFER THESE SCHOOLS

Korkmaz pointed out that Charles de Gaulle and Pierre Loti schools were founded in 1942, stating, "These schools are supposed to operate according to the principles of the Lausanne Treaty, but the real question is, 'Why have they become an issue today?' Policies of religious indoctrination and reactionaryism in education, the erosion of public education, and the commercialization of secular education have led to this situation."

She added, "Families have resorted to enrolling their children in private and foreign schools to ensure they receive a secular, scientific, and high-quality education. The fact that even ministers now prefer these schools for their children should be seen as a result of the MEB handing over education to religious orders and the Directorate of Religious Affairs. As the Republic's schools, which offer equal education to everyone, are destroyed, facing such problems becomes inevitable."