The master was not only cruel but also miserly enough to take the tiny tips given to me. It was much later that I could taste the sweets displayed in the windows of the patisseries after losing those coins.

Working Children

Research indicates that approximately 2 million children work in our country. Over the past five years, 339 children have lost their lives while working. The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) attributes this to increasing poverty, noting that the number of child workers rises each year. In the first five months of this year alone, 11 children have died in work-related accidents.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya recounts an even more distressing case:

“In an incident in the Korkuteli district of Antalya, a 17-year-old child, whose parents are mentally disabled and who has been diagnosed with ‘moderate mental retardation,’ was systematically abused by many people, mostly elderly, in the village.”

Seeking Solutions

The Association for Supporting Contemporary Life finds the solution in providing equal opportunities. They remind us that under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, every individual under the age of 18 is considered a child. They believe a definitive decision can solve this issue:

“We will work with all our strength to defend the right to education for children and to fight against child labor! Our children’s place is not in textile factories, industrial areas, or similar workplaces, but in educational institutions. We oppose viewing them as cheap labor and exploiting their bodies and efforts. Our children are the bright future of the secular Republic of Turkey. Protecting them, educating them, and defending their rights should be our collective social duty.”

Hope for the Future

For the future of our country, our children must grow up as creative and free individuals with a secular, scientific, coeducational, and public education, allowing them to discover and develop themselves. We recognize our responsibilities and invite everyone to defend our children’s right to education and support the fight against child labor.

As long as the Ministry of National Education ignores these calls and claims to make significant changes on its own, this confusion in education will not be resolved.

Without freeing ourselves from obsessions and revealing the true situation of students, the problems in education will become an intractable knot.