ABTTF President: ‘If the number of students increases, it is stated that the schools will reopen, but in practice this does not happen for our schools. According to the legislation, a school that has been suspended for two years in a row is closed indefinitely’.
Xronos newspaper reported on 17 August 2021 that ‘Xilagani (Kuşlanlı) High School and 14 more schools are closing’, adding that the activities of the schools will be ‘suspended’ for schools that will close in the 2021-22 school year with the decision of Konstantinos Bandikos, Regional Director of Primary and Secondary Schools in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.
According to the report, it was stated that the functions of 13 primary schools and 2 secondary schools, including Turkish primary schools in Aratos (Karacalköy), Arsakion (Aşağıköy), Drania (Kozdere), Ipion (Işıklar), Thámna (Eşekçili), Nevra (Sınırdere), Rizoma (Gebecili), could be suspended and that education could continue in the future with the increase in the number of students.
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made the following statement: ‘The decision, announced by the Regional Directorate of Primary and Secondary Schools in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace states that schools are not closed indefinitely, but that their activities have been halted due to a shortage of students. First of all, our schools should not be closed because of our autonomous status in education together with public schools within the framework of the economic measures. Moreover, according to the legislation, a school that has not been operational for two years in a row is considered to have been closed indefinitely. However, if the number of students increases, it is stated that the schools will reopen, but this does not happen in practice for our schools. For example, at the Turkish primary school in Velohorion (Höyükköy), the school board applied to the ministry to reopen the school, stating that the number of students in the school was 8, but the school did not open because the number of students had to be 9 for the school to reopen. This year, the parents indicated that the number of students would increase to 10, but we learned that with the decision taken this year, the school would be closed in again for the second year in a row. Therefore, the temporary suspension of the activities of the schools actually means closure! As a result, the number of schools we have is decreasing every year’.
