ABTTF President: “The fact that no solution has been found to the ongoing issue in our school in Xanthi is a clear summary of the perception and attitude towards our community! The rulers of our country have been deaf to our demands”.
Following the protests against double-shift schooling at the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School in September, a letter was sent to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as double-shift schooling was ended but the classroom and building issues have yet not been solved. In the letter sent by the School Board Chair Ozan Ahmetoğlu and Parent Teacher Association Chair Cemalettin Efendi, it was requested from Prime Minister Mitsotakis to find a long-lasting solution to the ongoing building issue.
Pupils and parents of the Xanthi Turkish Minority Secondary and High School had held a protest between 18 and 28 September 2023 demanding an end to double-shift schooling as well as a new school building due to insufficient classrooms, as the number of pupils had declined. They did not receive any response from the relevant authorities. As a result of the protests, double-shift schooling was terminated, but the use of the classrooms in the basement of the school was not allowed on instructions of the Directorate of Secondary Education of Xanthi, this time the pupils were obliged to attend classes that were tighter with 20 instead of 25 pupils.
In the letter sent to Prime Minister Mitsotakis due to the grievances not being resolved, attention was drawn to the lack of physical capacity of the school and a new building was requested for the Xanthi Minority Secondary and High School. As a short- and medium-term requirement to solve the issue of physical capacity, the Parent Teacher Association and the Board requested that classrooms on the basement of the school be allowed to be used as they were used in the past, and that prefabricated classrooms be built in the area used by the school, or that public buildings be allocated around the school for use as additional classrooms.
“The fact that no solution has been found to the ongoing issue in our school in Xanthi is a clear summary of the perception and attitude towards our community! Although the Board and the Parent Teacher Association conveyed their demands to the relevant Directorate of Secondary Education for many times, the issue has yet not been resolved. After the protests, double-shift schooling has come to an end, but this time, so to speak, our children are packed like sardines. The school year will end soon, and the issue has still not been solved. We have brought this issue to the agenda of the EP with the support of our deputies in the European Parliament, and we have drawnattention to this issue. But what a remedy! The rulers of our country have been deaf to our demands for one more time! I hope that the Prime Minister will approach this issue with sensitivity, consider the demands, and immediately implement short-term solution proposals”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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