Turkey has banned all new enrollment in primary and nursery classes in French schools in the country with immediate effect. The Ministry of Education announced on Saturday, August 10, that under an interim agreement reached after “long negotiations (…) “No new Turkish students will be enrolled in the mentioned schools until an international agreement providing for legal status is concluded”.
“In this context, no new Turkish students will be enrolled in the kindergarten and first grade classes of Charles-de-Gaulle primary schools [à Ankara] and Pierre-Loti [à Istanbul] »he wrote in a statement. The ministry specifies that the measure takes retroactive effect “from 1er January 2024, to cover the 2024-2025 school year and beyond. Similarly, no new students will be admitted to intermediate classes”.
This decision, less than a month before the start of the school year on September 3, has not yet been communicated to the parents of Turkish students, even though these students represent the overwhelming majority of those enrolled in these two establishments.
Program monitoring
The ministry also specifies: “The list of Turkish students enrolled and information on schools certified by the French Agency for Education Abroad (AEFE) will be submitted to our ministry before the start of the next school year.”
“Until these schools get” legal status, Turkish language courses, Turkish culture, Turkish literature, Turkish history and geography “can only be taught by teachers who are citizens of the Republic of Turkey and appointed by our ministry”he adds. He further warns that the programs and contents of these schools “will be monitored and inspected by officials” of the Turkish Ministry and State.
Furthermore, the ministry explains that a “global educational cooperation agreement, including the teaching of Turkish for Turkish students residing in France” is currently under negotiation, and calls for “continue negotiations to finalize it as soon as possible”.
After some “months of negotiations”according to the French embassy in Ankara, the tone suddenly rose in mid-July with the Minister of Education, Yusuf Tekin, who had denounced “arrogance” from France. “We are not like the countries you colonized. We are a sovereign state. So you have to act on our terms if you want to teach here.”he had warned.
A dispute over the status of French schools in Turkey is pitting Ankara against Paris. At the heart of the disagreement is a lingering demand for “reciprocity” from Turkey, which is asking to be able to open Turkish schools in France that are recognized by the French state.
Source: Lemonde
