Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
100
Table 11 Education outcomes by language spoken in the household
Language spoken at home Attendance
in school
(6-11 year
olds)
Attendance
in school
(12-15 year
olds)
Completing
5 years of
education
(12-15 year
olds)
Completing
8 years of
education
(16-18 year
olds)
2003 2013 2003 2013 2003 2013 2003 2013
Non-Turkish 79.2 88.5 69.6 86.3 70 94.8 41.4 79.4
Turkish 91.9 94.3 88.3 95.3 94.7 99 77.3 97.1
Difference(2013 minus 2003)
Non-Turkish 9.3 16.7 24.8 38
Turkish 2.4 7 4.3 19.8
Difference (Turkish minus Non-Turkish) 13.7 5.8 18.4 9 24.7 4.2 35.9 17.7
Note: Authors’ calculations using DHS 2003 and DHS 2013
Disability271: According to the Population and Housing Census dated 2011, the proportion of
children with at least one type of disability is 1.2 percent for children in the 0 to 4 age group, and
2.1 percent for children in the 5 to 9 year old group. 272 This rate is calculated, based on TURKSTAT
numbers, as 2.3 percent for children aged between 3 and 9, 2.1 percent for children aged between
10 and 14, and 2.3 percent for children aged between 15 and 19.273 According to the MoNE’s
formal education statistics, for the first semester of the 2016/17 academic year, the number of
students enrolled in formal special education (including basic and secondary education) is
306,205. Of these students, 1,028 are enrolled in kindergartens within a special education school,
and 1,708 children are in preschool level inclusive education classrooms.274 Considering the
number of children in the 3 to 5 age group with at least one type of disability, which is about
70,000275 in Turkey, one can say that only approximately 4 percent of children with disabilities
have access to special education in early years. While the number of students with special needs
is higher in inclusive classrooms at primary and secondary level schools, the lack of data prevents
us fromprovidingmore concrete information concerning the access to education for childrenwith
disabilities.
271 Since DHS does not include a question on disability, we were unable to run analysis on the relation between disability and
access to school.
272 Turkish Statistical Institute (2015)
273 Based on TURKSTAT’s 2011 data. Source: Sarıışık (2016)
274 Ministry of National Education (2017)
275 Sarıışık (2016)