The hands of 121 children that were once desired are now holding pencils.

193 children rescued from street begging or labor by Eskişehir Governorship in one year. Among those children forced to work on the street, siblings M.A. and A.A. dream of becoming police officers while returning to school.

14-year-old M.M. and 13-year-old A.M., who came to Turkey 5 years ago as part of a family of 4 siblings, were found to be working to support their families. Thanks to the Eskişehir Governorship’s General Directive on the Protection of Children Working on the Streets, Begging, and Exposed to Negative Influences from the External Environment, the children returned to their school, Ata Middle School, located in Fatih Neighborhood. The siblings, identified while working to help their families, started school as a result of the efforts of the Eskişehir Governorship. Both siblings, who dream of becoming police officers, are socializing with table tennis and football, which they enjoy alongside their studies. The Eskişehir Governorship found a construction job for M.M. and A.M.’s father and provided support with goods and food.

121 children returned to school in 2,223 actions

Within the scope of the General Directive on the Protection of Children Working on the Streets, Begging, and Exposed to Negative Influences from the External Environment, the Eskişehir Governorship carried out 2,223 actions in one year. A total of 199 reports were made to the 112 Emergency Call Center regarding this issue, and 193 children were identified, 88 of whom were foreign nationals. 192 children were handed over to the first acceptance unit. As a result of these efforts, 121 children were reintegrated into education, and 94 children were facilitated to participate in cultural and sports courses.

123 household visits were made

Teams conducted 123 household visits, 18 children were subject to precautionary measures, and 42 households received economic support. A formal warning was issued, and 192 children were handed over to their families. Administrative fines were imposed on 12 families, and criminal complaints were filed against 12 families. Health screening was conducted for 95 children, and vaccinations were completed for 91 children.

“I’m happy to be back in 8th grade thanks to our governor’s support”

14-year-old M.M. expressed his happiness about returning to school, stating, “We returned to school thanks to our governor’s support. We thank our school. Our family was in a bad situation, but it has improved a lot now. That’s why we also thank our governor again. I’m happy to be with my friends because I didn’t see them before. Now I feel better. During the time I was away from school, I was working to support my family and provide for them. My father and I always supported our family and continued our lives. I’m in the 7th grade. Actually, I didn’t study for a year because I was helping my family. That’s why I needed to go to 8th grade. Thanks to our governor’s support, I started 8th grade again. My dream is to become a police officer because we need to protect our homeland and support it. I need to support my family and provide for them,” he said.

M.M.’s 13-year-old brother A.M. stated that he wants to become a police officer like his older brother, saying, “I’m 13 years old. I’m currently in 7th grade, but I’m a year late, so I need to go to 8th grade. I was working. Now I’m happy because I met new friends. We are three siblings studying, but one is younger, just three years old. I want to be a police officer. I need to support my family and my country.”

“They should be in school and social life”

Teacher Tufan Özden spoke about the students returning to school and the General Directive on the Protection of Children Working on the Streets, Begging, and Exposed to Negative Influences from the External Environment:

“I have conducted a study regarding our students working on the streets under the instruction of our governor and the Public Education Center. We are a very compassionate society. We stop at traffic lights, calling over children selling tissues and water, handing them money immediately. We think we do a good deed, but we are actually doing harm. Why? Because as our children earn money, they don’t want to come to school or participate in social activities. While we think we are helping them morally, we are actually causing harm. I believe we need to consider these aspects as well. Our governor has shown us through this project that the place for children is school. They should be in school and social life. Sometimes our families have difficulties in this regard. Right now, the most important thing is making a living, hence they face challenges, but they have also supported us in a way, God bless them. We have programs for families as well. It has been a good effort. They have started to understand the importance of this job. Our governorship has found jobs for a few families or provided assistance regarding any work they wanted to do. In this sense, our children have been saved from working on the streets. Therefore, I would like to thank our Eskişehir governor very much.”

“We have reintegrated 121 children into education”

Regarding the activities carried out in one year, Eskişehir Governor Hüseyin Aksoy provided the following information:

“The streets are risky and dangerous for children. The places where children should be are their schools. In this context, in the study we have conducted, a total of 193 children have been intervened in the streets in the last year. When our children are taken off the streets, they are handed over to the children’s first acceptance unit of our Provincial Social Services Directorate. Sometimes these are seen and identified by the teams of social services, sometimes by the teams of the police and different units, who take the child and deliver them to the first acceptance unit of social services. In this sense, I would like to share the numerical dimensions of the activities we have conducted in the last year. A total of 193 children have been processed in this regard. An important aspect of this is that the children caught are immediately handed over to the first acceptance unit. 123 households of these children have been visited by our Provincial Social Services Directorate. There are 18 children on whom precautionary measures have been applied. After an economic examination, 42 families received support. Specifically, there are 12 families to whom we have imposed administrative fines, stating, ‘We will impose a fine if we see your child on the street multiple times,’ and we have also filed criminal complaints against these families with the Public Prosecutor’s Office. One of our most important goals is that we have reintegrated 121 children into education. These children were neglecting their schools while working on the streets. In coordination with our Provincial Directorate of National Education, these children have been reintegrated into education. The number of children participating in social and cultural courses is 94. The number of children who underwent health screening by our Provincial Health Directorate is 95. The number of children found to have incomplete vaccinations and who were vaccinated is 91, and we have carried out our efforts in this regard. I would also like to share the age groups of the children caught while working on the street or begging. We have even seen children in the 0-6 age group. A total of 29 children were identified; 14 girls and 15 boys. In the 7-10 age group, meaning primary school age, there were a total of 61 children; 22 girls and 39 boys. In the 11-14 age range, which corresponds to middle school level, there were 82 children; 19 girls and 63 boys. In the 15-18 age range, which we assess as high school age, there are 21 children; 7 girls and 14 boys, totaling 62 girls and 131 boys, making a total of 193 children processed.