Amr Halabi-Gaziantep
At a Turkish school in Gaziantep, Yasmine continues to study among thousands of Syrian students who are educated in Turkish public schools.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, thousands of children have taken refuge in Turkey. The Turkish government has set up hundreds of temporary educational centers where they receive instruction in their language and learn the language of their country of residence.
This was seven years ago. Today, the government has begun to temporarily close these temporary centers so that students in Turkish government schools will be fully enrolled by the next school year, in a regular educational program alongside their Turkish peers, after they become qualified and have mastered the Turkish language well .
| Yasmine is better Turkish than Arabic (Al Jazeera Net) |
Government education
"In Turkey today there are about 400,000 Syrian students in our government schools. As of next year, the entire temporary center will be closed so that Syrian students can attend our schools, and our main objective is to get Syrian students to education," said Genghis Mata, director of education in Gaziantep.
Government schools now receive thousands of Syrian students in their ranks.
During a tour of several schools in Gaziantep, we met with a number of Syrian and Turkish students. It was clear how successfully Syrian students were integrated with their Turkish counterparts and professors.
We asked Yasmin, a fourth-grader, to talk about her experience at the Turkish school, but we were surprised that she could not speak Arabic (her mother tongue). "I can tell Turkey what I know a lot about Arabic." "I have been here for six years. I have mastered the Turkish language at school. Now I understand everything the teacher says. I also have Turkish friends."
| Aisha Nour: Continuous communication with Syrian students near us (Al Jazeera Net) |
Centers of Arabic
Yasmin was the only one who could not speak fluent in Arabic. Like other Syrian students, they mastered the Turkish language and almost forgot their mother tongue.
"At first I had some difficulties in dealing with Syrian students, but continuous communication with them made us understand each other very well," says Aisha Nur, a Turkish teacher.
Aisha and other Turkish teachers confirm that the government has set up Arabic language learning centers so that Syrian students can study their language.
Thus, Turkish schools pushed the illiteracy risk of thousands of Syrian students, and enabled them to integrate into Turkish society, but they faced another challenge in preserving their mother tongue, Arabic.