Parents, Students Protest Relocation Of Special Needs School To Remote Area

Families gathered in Büyükçekmece on Monday to protest the relocation of a school for children with special needs to the outskirts of İstanbul.

Controversy arose in recent weeks, with the start of the new school year across Turkey, when the campus of the Mimar Sinan Elementary and Middle School for the Hearing Impaired was moved over 40 kilometers from the central district of Fatih to Büyükçekmece.

Protesting the recent move, parents and students held signs saying “We want our school back,” “Our school is our right” and “Another disability has been put before us.” A branch of Eğitim-Sen (Education Personnel Union), the Disabled Association of Turkey, the Şişli Hearing and Speech Disabled Association, the Disability Rights Forum and the Turkish National Federation of the Deaf (TSD) have also expressed their support for the protest.

Parents have opposed the move for various reasons, including greater traffic, a lack of security and social difficulties. While the Fatih campus allowed parents to drop off and pick up their children with ease, the current campus has made for commutes that add up to two-and-a-half hours in traffic for many families. Schools throughout Turkey normally provide transportation for students, but the school has yet to organize such a service, even though the school year is in its third week.

The area surrounding the new campus does not please parents or students of Mimar Sinan Elementary and Middle School for the Hearing Impaired one elementary and one middle school , either. Because it is located on the outskirts of the city, the school is surrounded by factories and vacant land rather than being in a more urban area. This has raised concerns about security and the students' social lives. Parent Nazmiye Abacı spoke with Turkish news agencies last week, saying: “The school is in such a remote area that I don't know if I can send my child there safely. They are basically telling us not to send our children to school. They [the government] view the disabled as a burden. They are obstructing our children's social lives.”

Another factor that parents saw as problematic is the new campus's lack of a nearby hospital. Many parents would take their children to special education and rehabilitation centers in Fatih after school. Parent Suzan Taşdemir said, “It is important if they can learn even one word, but now they have taken rehabilitation options out of our hands, too.”

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)