The gaps in education between children in Turkey are among the largest in the developed world, according to a UNICEF report released on Monday. The report by the United Nations children's organization examined educational inequality in elementary and middle-school pupils in 41 of the world’s richest countries, all members of the OECD or the European Union.
In the proportion of youngsters who attended kindergarten the year before they started first grade Turkey had the lowest percentage of preschool attendance, 68 percent. The report shows that only two in three children in Turkey attend preschool the year before starting compulsory education according to the data from 2015. Becoming the last with this ratio, US comes right at the top of Turkey.
Entitled "An Unfair Start: Inequality in Children’s Education in Rich Countries," the report focuses on gaps in reading-comprehension scores between lowest- and highest-performing students, based on factors such as access to education, the child's gender, parents’ jobs, migration background, etc.
The UNICEF report identifies threats to educational equality. Income inequality is making it more difficult to close education gaps. Living in a rich country does not guarantee equal access to quality education, according to the study. Children in less wealthy countries often perform better at school despite fewer national resources, the report says.
It was witnessed that education and social status of parents affected children's success in education at all countries. The report states "In 16 of the 29 European countries for which data are available, children from the poorest fifth of households have a lower pre-school attendance rate than children from the richest fifth."
The patterns persist throughout a child’s schooling. Among children aged 15 who are doing equally well at school, those with parents in high-status jobs are much more likely to continue into higher education than those with parents in low-status jobs.
Countries have different degrees of educational inequality at different educational stages, the report says. Ireland and Slovenia are in the bottom third of countries for preschool enrolment, but move to the middle third at primary school and then the top third at secondary school.
France has one of the highest rates of preschool enrolment but then falls to the bottom third in secondary school. The Netherlands goes from being the most equal country in primary school reading scores to ranking 26th of 38 countries when children reach 15 years of age. Towards the end of compulsory schooling, Latvia, Ireland and Spain are the three most equal countries.
The report also stated that Turkey did not have enough data at OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 report. Therefore Turkey was not included in the comparison made in terms of primary and secondary education inequality.
