Education policy for Syrian refugees in Turkish camps : challenges with education curriculum

Being a Syrian refugee is not a matter of personal choice, but the result of conflict back home. The Syrian crisis began in early 2011 and has been ongoing for nearly five years, which has led to a protracted refugee situation on a large scale, with nearly 4 million refugees. On average, 6,000 people continue to leave Syria every day. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently announced that every 15 seconds a Syrian becomes a refugee. In such situations, education is one domain that immediately suffers, and host countries face a tremendous burden in absorbing the growing numbers of school age refugees and protecting their present and future needs. The Turkish government was quick to recognize the need to establish schools in camps for school-aged Syrian refugee children. A number of critical challenges had to be met in order to deliver the most appropriate education possible, according to Turkish laws and standards. The Government of Turkey faces a number of challenges in providing education to the refugees' children not only in terms of where to find space to establish the schools, but especially in creating a lasting educational system that will foster a sense of stability and long-term feasibility for its students.

This thesis explores one of these education challenges, namely, the choice of an education curriculum for the camps in Turkey. It discusses the factors that may contribute to a better curriculum for Syrian refugees within the Turkish camps including the language of instruction, accreditation, politicization of the curriculum, and the standardization of education. The study is qualitative in nature and was pursued by visiting two Turkish camps in Gaziantep City (Nizip 1 and Nizip 2) on October 20, 2014 for observation and interviews with students, teachers, principals, parents and camp management. The study also used secondary sources on the theme of refugee education. The study recommended that the Turkish government and its partners should address the factors in order to provide Syrian refugees with the best education possible; furthermore, they should look at the situation using a holistic approach. It is hoped, therefore, that this study will provide researchers, policy-makers and those interested in the subject with a basis for further studies, analysis and/or research.