In Turkey, the level of education has not changed from one generation to the next as 91 percent of families have educations of elementary school level or below.

In Turkey there is a common belief that parents do all they can to ensure that their children are better educated than they are. Another common myth is that the major reason for the rural to urban migration in Turkey is to provide better education opportunities for children. I still hear this argument here and there. But the statistics do not validate this: 60 percent of the children in Turkey have the same educational attainment level as their parents. They are unable take a step further. Nazım Hikmet’s poem, that says “I am ahead of my father, before my unborn child,” does not apply. Turkey increasingly has been reproducing its seventh-grade dropout population with every generation. Why? Compared to Korea, family income level affects children’s education performance more, figures say. Turkey’s education system is on the low-quality – high income inequality nexus. This is how Turkey has become stuck in the middle-income trap.

First, let me cite a couple of figures from the evaluation note “Intergenerational Mobility in Education: How Does Turkey Compare in the Equality of Opportunities?” by TEPAV economist Bilgi Aslankurt. First, according to the European Labor Force Survey, 50 percent of the young adults across OECD countries have the same level of educational attainment as their parents, while 37 percent have a better educational attainment. The rates for Turkey are 66 percent and 30 percent, respectively. Turkey falls behind Europe in terms of intergenerational upwards mobility in education. Second, the threshold children cannot pass shows how catastrophic the outlook is. 91 percent of the families in which educational attainment levels has not changed between generations have education levels at or below primary school level. The barrier 60 percent of our children have failed to overcome is the first barrier ever.

What is the cause of intergenerational immobility? In Turkey, educational attainment and the income level of parents have major impacts on the quality of education. In Korea, the socio-economic status of the family has a smaller effect on the quality of education the child can access. They have equality, we have inequality. Developed countries, too, are sensitive about ensuring equality of opportunity. The U.S., for instance, introduced the No Child Left Behind Act twelve years ago in order to provide high-quality education to disadvantaged children.

And here are some observations on the issue: please tell me what you see when you combine the above statistics with the rising level of child poverty in Turkey. What I see is that rising child poverty means that poor households have more children.

If socio-economic status is among the factors that determine the quality of education and if the skills set of future generations are determined mainly by that of today’s generation, Turkey will remain a country of seventh-grade dropouts. This augurs badly. Second, in today’s rapidly changing world, the rapid transformation of the skills set of the labor force is critical. The figures above suggest that Turkey is at the bottom of Europe, except for Slovakia, in this process of adaptation. If the adaptation capacity is weak, convergence will be slow. Today, the key challenge for Turkey is related not to the Kurdish issue, but to the fact that the steps needed concerning education do not give results within an electoral cycle. What politicians care about is the first election. What people care about is prosperity. But the relief of the steps that will bring prosperity for all can be felt way after the first election. We are still waiting for the steps that will bring a breeze, however. This is why we are inert.

Third, equality of opportunities in education is the only way to redeem tomorrow. Equality of opportunities will be the main principle of the new national education system.

Turkey has to overcome the low quality–high inequality trap in education. Otherwise, the 2023 targets will remain dreams. The middle-income trap, on the other hand, will be a blatant fact.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 18.01.2013

Please click here to read the note "Intergenerational Mobility in Education - How Does Turkey Compare in Equality of Opportunity?" cited in the commentary.