Number of Syrian children at education age reaches almost 1 million in Turkey

The number of Syrian children at education age in Turkey has reached nearly one million, according to the head of Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), Mehmet Halis Bilden. 

"There are nearly 960,000 Syrian children at education age in Turkey. Our Education Ministry has helped some 524,000 of those children receive education this year," Bilden told the Hürriyet Daily News on the sidelines of the Atlantic Council Istanbul Summit on April 28. 

"The promise that the European Union gave us is very significant. As our President [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] said, they should have given us three billion plus three billion euros last year. We don't want that money for our own needs. We want it to fulfill the needs of Syrians in education, health, sheltering and other basic needs. But because the EU has delayed giving that money, we unfortunately cannot make all of Syrian children receive education," he added, referring to the migrant deal between Ankara and Brussels.  

The EU and Turkey agreed in March last year on a plan to stop migration through illegal channels in the Aegean Sea by cracking down on human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.        

Under the agreement, Ankara agreed to take back all Syrians who crossed into the Greek islands illegally from Turkey and the EU promised to take in the same number of Syrian refugees from Turkey.

Bilden said the Education Ministry had made plans to increase the number of children receiving education.
"I believe that all of them will receive education by the end of next year," he added. 

Saying that nearly 200,000 children are receiving education under a mixed language system, Bilden noted that there are...