Page 29 - IO1-Report

KA201 - Strategic Partnerships for School Education
The Universal Language of Mathematics (2018-1-TR01-KA201-059704)

kind of non-formal educational institutions. The centers followed an almost identical curriculum to that
of Syrian schools which has been prepared in cooperation of the Syrian Interim Government’s Ministry
of Education and the Turkish Ministry of National Education (Taşkın and Erdemli 2018). Additionally,
except Turkish classes, all lessons have been told in Arabic. Thus these institutions have been an
obstacle for children to integrate into the Turkish Culture and Turkish Educational system because the
language barrier was still there. However, to get over the language barrier, children took Turkish lessons
from Turkish teachers employed by the MoNE. Türkiye Diyanet Foundation have found the Syrian
instructors and UNICEF supported them financially (Taşkın and Erdemli 2018) which can be counted as
a good practice until the TEC’s close down and all Syrian children have been integrated into the Turkish
educational system by enrolling in public schools which are all monitored by MoNE.

Good Practice 2: For children staying outside of the camps schools are available without any tuition
fee. Nevertheless, it is greater issue to adapt Turkish National Education System without knowing
Turkish language and Turkish culture. However, to overcome the language problem that refugee
children faced with, MoNE provides some cue cards and language cards for development of more
familiar perceptions for Turkish National curriculum and Turkish language (Human Rights Watch, 2015).
Additionally, MoNE has carried out several projects to integrate refugee pupils into Turkish educational
system. One of the these projects refers specifically to Syrian children and is called Promoting
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Integration of Syrian Children to the Turkish Educational System (PICTES) (Akyuz et al. 2018). The
purpose of project is integrating Syrian children who are under protection into Turkish National
Education. Project embraces lots of activities for refugee children and their families.

• The activities of PICTES include:Language Activities: Both Turkish and Arabic language
lessons have been given as a language course to communicate with pupils’ peers and to
adapt Turkish language easily.
• Catch-up and Back-up Training: To integrate Syrian children into Turkish Educational system
and for catch-up level of their grade and in case of any failure these extra lessons are good
for pupils.
• Transportation services: Providing free transportation for refugee pupils.
• Stationary, Textbook and Clothing Assistance: Supplying materials for pupils.
• Provision of educational services
• Awareness Raising Activities
• Guidance and Counselling Activities
• Training of Trainers, Administrative Personnel Trainings
• Monitoring and Evaluation
Good Practice 3: Even though the education and school supplies are free, Syrian families struggle
economically, as the mentioned in previous part, and the rate of attendance is really low. As a result
with the partnership of EU, Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services, the Ministry of National
Education, AFAD, Turkish Red Crescent and UNICEF, there is a programme to ensure the accessibility
of education for refugees. The programme is called Conditional Cash Transfer for Education

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See project website: https://piktes.gov.tr/Home/FaaliyetlerENG
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