Halit Habip Oğlu: As ABTTF, we support the decision to protest of the parents of the children of the Turkish community in Western Thrace and ask the Greek authorities to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School have a new building with sufficient capacity to accommodate the students and relieve them of the inconvenience”
Protests were held by parents on 12 September 2019 at the Turkish Minority Secondary School and High School in Xanthi to object to a new system introduced at the school belonging to the Turkish Community in Western Thrace which schedules classes in shifts. Students’ parents, the School Council and the Parent-School Association opposed the school administration’s decision to implement a system where some of the students receive education only in the morning or only in the afternoon. Although there is no legal basis for its decision, the school’s administration says it made the decision to have classes in morning and afternoon shifts because there is excess number of students. According to the implementation of the class shifts system, students residing in Xanthi city center and surrounding villages would have their classes in the afternoon and the students from other villages in the morning.
Due to the protest, Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School was closed for a few hours and teachers and students were not allowed into the school. Following the protest, a committee consisting of the parents, the School Council and Parent-School Association, visited the Provincial Directorate of Education, Xanthi Municipality and other relevant institutions and asked for the construction of a new school building which would accommodate all enrolled students.
Regarding the issue, Halit Habip Oğlu, President of Federation Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), said: “Every day a new problem is added to the problems that the Turkish community in Western Thrace has been experiencing in the field of education. More recently, in violation of the educational autonomy and rights of the Turkish community in Western Thrace arising from the treaties, five more primary schools were shut down, on the grounds that the number of students was too low. Now, although the students and their parents oppose the decision of the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School, the system of class shifts was adopted by the school administration. In recent years, although the Xanthi Minority Secondary and High School is appreciated by Western Thrace Turks, current capacities of the schools are lacking and there is a scarcity of classrooms which causes our students to suffer. As agreed by parents, teachers, the School Council and the Parent-Teacher Association, this problem can only be resolved by building a new school with sufficient capacity to accommodate all enrolled students. As ABTTF, we support the protest of the parents of the children of the Western Thrace Turkish community and ask the Greek authorities to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School will have a new building with sufficient capacity to accommodate the students and relieve them of the inconvenience”.
