Request for Turkish language teaching as well as English in kindergartens
Western Thrace
Wed, 6 May 2020 18:07 GMT
The four institutions of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority, acting together, demanded that the Turkish language be taught as well as English through creativity activities in kindergartens operating in the regions where the minority lives in Western Thra...
The four institutions of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority, acting together, demanded that the Turkish language be taught as well as English through creativity activities in kindergartens operating in the regions where the minority lives in Western Thrace, with the program to be implemented in schools selected under the Draft Law of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs.
The educational autonomy and rights of the Turkish Minority left in Greece with the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne have found its place in the 40th and 41st articles of the mentioned treaty. However, since the kindergarten education was not yet included in the education systems of the countries at the time of the signing of the treaty, this issue was not clearly included in the articles that give our minority the right to education in their own language. However, in Article 40, the minority was given the right to establish, manage, supervise and use their own language freely in all kinds of schools and similar educational and training institutions, with their own spending. For compulsory kindergarten education, which was initiated for the first time with the law numbered 3518/2006, the minority was not allowed to open kindergartens to provide Turkish-Greek education.
The minority has claimed this right of education since 2010, which has been included in the treaty and has repeatedly expressed the demand for kindergarten to provide bilingual Turkish and Greek education within the education system. The four institutions Friendship Equality Peace Party, Western Thrace Council Association, Western Thrace Minority Culture and Education Company, and Western Thrace Minority Graduates Association, starting from the fact that there are countless kindergartens offering bilingual education within the European Union (EU), made their request to the competent authorities of Greece, as a right of education derived from the Lausanne Treaty and a right arising from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
The educational autonomy and rights of the Turkish Minority left in Greece with the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne have found its place in the 40th and 41st articles of the mentioned treaty. However, since the kindergarten education was not yet included in the education systems of the countries at the time of the signing of the treaty, this issue was not clearly included in the articles that give our minority the right to education in their own language. However, in Article 40, the minority was given the right to establish, manage, supervise and use their own language freely in all kinds of schools and similar educational and training institutions, with their own spending. For compulsory kindergarten education, which was initiated for the first time with the law numbered 3518/2006, the minority was not allowed to open kindergartens to provide Turkish-Greek education.
The minority has claimed this right of education since 2010, which has been included in the treaty and has repeatedly expressed the demand for kindergarten to provide bilingual Turkish and Greek education within the education system. The four institutions Friendship Equality Peace Party, Western Thrace Council Association, Western Thrace Minority Culture and Education Company, and Western Thrace Minority Graduates Association, starting from the fact that there are countless kindergartens offering bilingual education within the European Union (EU), made their request to the competent authorities of Greece, as a right of education derived from the Lausanne Treaty and a right arising from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
