Child workers working in the fields cannot access remote education

Emrullah ACAR

In the new school year, the "diluted face to face" education starts on Monday. Distance learning which started two weeks earlier could not reach disadvantaged students. Most of the students could not follow the lessons due to the lack of tools such as internet, computer, tablet or phone. 45 children working as seasonal agricultural workers in Ördekgölü village of Polatlı are among those who cannot follow distance education.

NO INTERNET NO COMPUTER

Most of the children between the ages of 5-17 collect onions with their families for 12 hours a day in the sun. Children who are not able to work are doing housework in tents. 11-year-old N.S., a 4th grade student who sometimes works in the field and sometimes at home does things like sweeping the house, tidying around, washing dishes and preparing dinner until her family returns from work.

MY PLAY MATES WORK IN THE FIELD

Stating that she could not access distance learning, N.S said, “My father has a phone but he does not give it to anyone. I love to read books. But I left all my books back in Urfa. I have friends to play with but they went to work. "We play hide and seek when they don't go to work," she says. N.S' biggest dream is to become a doctor.

THE ONLY ACTIVITY IS CONVERSATION

Expressing that he had to leave school after finishing secondary school, 17-year-old A.T. has been working in the field for 7 years. Stating that he wakes up at 05:00 in the morning and works 12 hours a day, A.T said, “Sometimes we get in the car and play music, that is how I pass time. We chat and talk about our dreams. I want to improve myself athletically, I want to be a volleyball player." Stressing that his daily wage is 80 TL (10 US dollars) A.T. has previously worked in İzmir, Muğla, Afyon and Burdur.

WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN WE DISAPEAR

Sadık Çoban, who works in the field, is among those who cannot attend school after the 8th grade. He has been working in the fields for the past 5 years. “I could not go to school as I had to earn a living, but I would like to go to school. In Urfa I work in a bakery in the winter and in the field in the summer. We start work early in the morning, when the sun goes down we disappear. Without some strings being pulled we cannot get a job in Urfa, I applied to İŞKUR (the employment office), but didn't get it,”he says.

CHILDREN OF ALL AGES

The overseer Mesut Kaş of those working in the field said “The schools have been opened for distance education, but our children cannot access them. The number of children is too many, and their lessons are different. While children are connected to distance education elsewhere, 45 children here are far from education. There are children of all ages here in the fields, not just small children. There are students who study from primary school, high school to university and they have not received any education for two weeks."

INEQUALITY INCREASED WITH THE OUTBREAK

According to Hülya Daran Deveci, Ankara Branch President of the Student Parent Association (Veli-Der), seasonal agricultural child workers face inequality in education, as well as in many areas. Reminding that children had problems in attending school before the epidemic, Deveci pointed out that inequality increased with the epidemic.

Stating that children living in tents for months are faced with nutritional and health problems, Deveci said, “Unfortunately, education isn't on their agenda. On the one hand, those with money receive distance education services from private schools, on the other hand, there are seasonal child workers who cannot access education in any way… This is a huge inequality and injustice.”

NO COMPUTER AND NO TABLET

Stating that the number of children who are forced to live in the fields and tents increases every year, Deveci said “These children have neither computers nor tablets for distance education. As the priority of the parents of these children is not education based on the conditions they live in, but being able to find basic sustenance and earning a small income, unfortunately, the education of the children is of the last thing on their minds. The education of the children is the desire of seasonal workers, but they remain outside the education system because their conditions are not the conditions in which they can fulfil these requirements. "

"EQUAL PUBLIC EDUCATION IS A RIGHT"

"Unfortunately, a great majority of these children are far from education. The Ministry of Education must provide tablets and the internet to include them in education. Every child has the right to a quality, scientific, equal public education. It is the responsibility of the government to provide it."

Deveci concluded her words as follows: “Unfortunately, most of them are disconnected from schools and education. The Ministry of Education needs to provide these children with both tablet and internet infrastructure very quickly and to include children in education. It is the right of every child to receive quality, scientific and equal public education. It is the responsibility of those governing Turkey to deliver them." (Ankara/MA)