Turkish authorities fire Syrian teachers from Turkey’s schools
ISTANBUL, Turkey (North Press) -Turkish authorities have recently dismissed a large number of Syrian teachers working in Turkey, without giving any reasons.
Syrian teachers’ suffering is increasing, especially after their file was transferred from UNICEF, which used to support them with salaries and wages, to the Turkish government.
The total number of Syrian teachers in Turkey is about 15,000, of whom 2,000 are in Istanbul, according to non-official statistics.
Dismissal
Sources concerned with condition of Syrian refugees in Turkey, who preferred not to be mentioned, told North Press that “a large number of volunteer teachers were fired in Turkey.”
“They have no source of income except for their salaries paid by UNICEF, and they have volunteered to work for free in Turkey to teach Syrian children since the beginning of the Syrian crisis,” the source added.
“Children of thousands of families of volunteer teachers are under threat of resorting to work to help their families in the light of hard economic conditions they suffer in Turkey,” the source stated.
“The information regarding the dismissal of a large number of teachers is correct,” according a source in Turkish-Syrian Joint Committee, which includes members of Syrian national delegation and the Turkish government, told North Press.
He pointed out that “an urgent report on these developments has been submitted to the competent authorities to follow up on the details and address the matter if there is a capacity to do so.”
Suffering
Turkish authorities issued procedures against teachers, which they consider “unfair,” and they add that the transfer of their file to the Turkish government has had disastrous consequences for teachers and students at the same time.
In September, the situation of Syrian teachers in Turkey prompted a number of teachers to launch appeals through the AVAAZ Organization, a US-based nonprofit organization launched in January 2007 that promotes global activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, animal rights, corruption, poverty, and conflict, to shed light to their deteriorating conditions in Turkey.
The campaign was entitled, “Do justice to the (volunteer) Syrian teachers in Turkey.”
Appeal
North Press reported an appeal from a teacher, stating, “I speak for 6,000 or more teachers in Turkey; an unjust decision will be made against them, and everyone who doesn’t have a university degree will be dismissed.”
He added, “The services of those who do not meet these conditions will be dispensed with, knowing that all teachers have undergone educational qualification courses with UNICEF and have obtained educational qualification certificates.”
The dismissal of Syrian teachers from their work sparked the indignation of a number of social media users, who expressed their solidarity with Syrian teachers forced to flee to Turkey and suffer poor living conditions.
Syrian teacher Ahmed Hamwi, who lives in Gaziantep, told North Press that the “approximately half of the 12,900 teachers in Turkish schools will be let go, and there will be conditions to assign them.”
The most important of these conditions are the “Turkish language certificate, the teacher’s specialization which should be exclusively within the educational sector, and whoever doesn’t meet these conditions will be fired,” he added.