Turkish State Education in Fethiye

Education in both primary (ilkogretim) and secondary (lise) institutions run by the state is free of charge. If you want your child to be placed in the Turkish state education system you must provide the following:

• Birth certificate

• 6 Passport photos

• Copy of the passport

• Have your equivalence certificate OR bring evidence of the child’s attainment – SAT results; Record of Achievement; letter from previous head teacher in UK. This evidence should cover the last two years of schooling in UK.

• Have a residence permit valid for at least one year.

You then go to see Tacettin Aldemir, Assistant Director of Education for Fethiye. His office is on the first floor of the building next to GIMA. Go up the stairs and his office is the second from the end on the right signed Milli Egitim (State Education).

Tacettin speaks excellent English and is very helpful. He will immediately arrange for your child to go to school as a ‘guest’. The child’s evidence of attainment will be sent to Mugla for an official confirmation of the class s/he should be in, in the form of the equivalence certificate. Once the certificate arrives from Mugla the child could be moved to a different class/school.

Of course all state education is in Turkish (except for English classes which are taught throughout the system). There is no help for your child to learn Turkish. If the child is under 11 the odds are s/he will pick up the language quickly. Otherwise you will have to arrange private Turkish lessons.

The Turkish state education system is currently undergoing significant change as part of Turkey’s preparations for entry into the EU. However, at the moment it is still very different from state education in the UK. Discipline is strict, there is an emphasis on rote learning and a child has to pass exams at the end of the school year in order to move on to the next class in the new school year. If s/he fails the exams they have to repeat the year.