Addressing Rural Child Labour through Education for All Ministry of National Education, Turkey 7th Meeting of the W

1. Addressing Rural Child Labour through Education for All Ministry of National Education, Turkey 7thMeeting of the Working Group on EFA , UNESCO, Paris, 19-21 July 2006 “Reaching the EFA Goals: Overcoming Child Labour to achieve EFA” Presented by Mr. Nurettin KONAKLI Head of Strategy Development Presidency

2. Working for Success • The Ministry of National Education (MoNE) has been at the forefront of the efforts to achieve Education for All and eliminate child labour in Turkey. • Recognizing that these goals are interdependent, MONE has made important efforts to raise school enrolment and retention rates while explicitly addressing child labour in its national education strategy. • Collaboration between MoNE, and Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MOLSS) and Institution for Social Services and Child Protection (SHCEK) has been an important feature of this strategy to remove the barriers that prevent children from going to school and push them into the workforce at a young age. • For well over a decade, MONE has been implementing programmes to withdraw children from child labour and give them the assistance they need to go to school and stay there until they finish. .

3. Goal The Achievement of Education For All and the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour Through • Mainstreaming of child labour into education strategies • Ensuring policy coherence • Capacity building • Developing strategic partnerships

4. Mainstreaming of child labour into education strategies • Integration of the specific needs of working girls and boys into policy planning and the development of Basic Education Programme (BEP) BEP explicitly addresses child labour: • Providing former working children with fulltime schooling and increasing their achievement level • Increasing sensitivity to the problem of child labour • Social aid project in support of eight-year basic education

5. Ensuring policy coherence • Ensuring broad-based policy coherence between macro-level policies of Ministry of National Education (MoNE), Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS) and Institution for Social Services and Child Protection (SHCEK) • Acceleration of efforts to achieve EFA goals and the elimination of child labour in the broader context of poverty reduction

6. Capacity building • Expanding the capacities and knowledge of teachers, and counsellors and equipping them with the appropriate skills to increase the attendance, retention and academic performance levels of former working children

7. Developing strategic partnerships • Promoting and strengthening partnerships through closely working with the labour inspectors, social workers, employers` and workers` organizations, local government departments, NGOs, professional groups, police, community organizations and research institutions.

8. A widening focus on rural areas A programme for the prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation of rural child labourthrough education

9. Key Objectives • To create an enabling environment conducive to achievement of the EFA and elimination of the child labour. • To prevent children from entering seasonal agricultural work and to withdraw children from hazardous labour in agriculture through education

10. Target groups • The programme focuses on children employed as seasonal labourers in cotton harvesting in the Karataş District of Adana. • Karataş was selected due to the continued presence of traditional structures used in the organization of labour in cotton harvesting. • Education is a significant problem for children of families engaged in seasonal agricultural work. • a total of 4,500 boys and girls

11. Key programme Components

12. Key programme Components Key Programme Components • a multi-sectoral approach involving coordinated action by local governors and directorates of education, health and social welfare • a contextual approach, by which the problem of children was not addressed in isolation, but through families, schools and rehabilitation centers • Focus on education as an alternative to work, including multi-level activities to ensure the school attendance, retention and academic performances of children; • Linking micro-level activities to macro-level policy making to ensure regular information gathering and widespread dissemination of data, experience and lessons learnt to both local and national authorities • Mobilizing and strengthening financial, human and institutional capacity across sectors, particularly in health and education

13. School-based Child Labour Monitoring (CLM) System In the schools in home communities • The school principals and the teachers in these schools identify children with low attendance rates, especially during cotton picking season. • Parents are contacted by the school administration (principals and/or trained teachers) and advised about the harm of child labour and their legal responsibility to send their child/children to school. • Parents are referred to alternatives, such as registering their child/children in a boarding school at no cost. Where needed, children can participate in camps and other extra-curricular activities designed for them during the summer months.

14. School based Child Labour Monitoring system On the farms and plantations around Karatas • The team goes to the cotton fields and nearby villages to identify the children who are not in school or working. • Focus group discussions are held with the parents where they can learn about the programme and discuss specific issues or problems related sending their children to school. • Children are referred to Social Support Centre (SSC) and provided with counselling, education and recreational services. • If needed for academic of logistical reasons, they are placed in a summer school programme. • Information on the identified children is sent to the appropriate school in the child’s home community. • When the child returns, the school take preventive measures to prevent them leaving school for work .

15. Achievements Achievements • Creation of a positive policy environment for achieving the EFA goals and the elimination of child labour • Commitment to working together in a coordinated and coherent manner • Improved information and knowledge on the linkages between education and child labour • Sustainable School based CLM system is in place • Child labour prevention committees are to be created within the local directorates of MONE in 81 cities • 1,460 children (45% girls) have been reached. More than half of them have been withdrawn from work and enrolled in primary schools, the rest benefited complementary education programmes and rehabilitative activities. • Individual and group counseling, hygiene and sanitary training, medical check-ups and skills training were provided for 1100 families.

16. What have we learned so far? • A clear vision about eliminating child labour and achieving education for all, backed by commitment in terms of policies, plans and action at the central (ministerial) level, is a prerequisite for long-term change. • Government commitment to ensure education for all children under the age of 15 and the availability of financial resources to implement this can have a significant impact on reducing child labour. • Efforts to rehabilitate child labourers and prevent at-risk children from entering work must extend beyond basic assistance to children and touch the wider context of their lives, i.e. their families, neighbourhoods, communities, schools and other groups and individuals that can have an influence. • Government-funded boarding schools (YİBOs and PİOs) provide a viable alternative to child labour for many families, particularly in rural areas

17. What have we learned so far? • Inter-agency cooperation at a local and national level can be efficient and help make solutions sustainable. • Efforts to increase enrolment and attendance and reduce child labour through school-based child labour monitoring can be mutually reinforcing. • Existing education monitoring mechanisms, from classroom level to national level, present clear

18. Other Related Projects • Within the framework of Social Risk Mitigation Project * Conditional Cash Transfer • “Dad send me to School” campaign The money that is being collected is mainly being used for the construction of schools, dormitories and classrooms and for granting scholarships to some 6,750 girls in 15 provinces in Southeastern Turkey. • Through the “Hey Girls, Lets Go to School” campaign carried out by MoNE as from 2003 175.000 girls have been enrolled to primary education. • The campaign of Support for National Education which was started in 2001 is continuing In the National Education Campaign, which will last until there is no illiterate person in Turkey

19. Thank You!