SYRIAN CHILDREN OUT OF EDUCATION: AN EVALUATION FROM PROFESSIONALS’ PERSPECTIVE

This study aims to understand and explain why Syrian children cannot attend school based on the narratives of professionals working with immigrants in Konya province within the socio-cultural context. A qualitative research design is conducted by interviewing 15 professionals working in public and non-governmental organizations and carrying out one-to-one studies with Syrian children and their families in Konya. As a result of the interviews, six themes (economic challenges, cultural barriers to education, uncertain environment, reflections of ghettoization, failure to enroll in school, and handicaps in the education system) are found to play a role in the low schooling of Syrian children. The study points out that more efforts are needed to include Syrian children who are out of school in the educational system. In this direction, we emphasize the importance of developing the capacity of schools, expanding vocational education, establishing a multi-sectoral and multi-actor working mechanism, and starting school social work practice.