Scandalous allegation: They forged reports to receive a 7,000 lira allowance from the government.

It was claimed that a special education and rehabilitation center operating in the Yenişehir district of Bursa sent children who do not need special education to primary schools as integration students by issuing fake reports to receive funding from the state.

IT WAS DONE TO RECEIVE 7,200 TL PER STUDENT

The principal of Süleymanpaşa Primary School in Bursa's Yenişehir district, İsmail Can, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Confederation of Public Employees and Retirees' Unions, initiated an investigation after suspecting that the number of special needs students sent to the school as integration students was excessive. According to the allegation, one of the three special education and rehabilitation centers operating in the district sent children who do not need special education to schools in the district as integration students by issuing fake reports to receive a monthly allowance of 7,200 TL per student from the state. Again, according to the allegation, some of the students for whom fake reports were issued were also sent to Süleymanpaşa Primary School as integration students. İsmail Can stated that while the average rate of special education students in Turkey is 3%, the number of students with reports in his school was about 10% of the total. Following his criminal complaint in May, the Bursa Governorship launched an investigation, and the Provincial Directorate of National Education assigned two inspectors to the case.

"THE 10% OF STUDENTS WITH REPORTS CAUGHT MY ATTENTION"

Inspectors interviewed Ö. T., the owner of the special education and rehabilitation center, İsmail Can, the principal of Süleymanpaşa Primary School, parents, and students. While the parties accused each other and provided contradictory statements, an examination was also conducted on the documents at the rehabilitation center. It was stated that so far, no evidence of a crime or that the state had been harmed had been found in the investigations.

While judicial and administrative investigations are ongoing regarding the incident, school principal İsmail Can said: "On October 31, 2023, I was appointed as the principal of Süleymanpaşa Primary School in Bursa Yenişehir, about a year ago. When I was appointed as the principal, some things caught my attention. I had previously worked at Kestel Yenimahalle Primary School. There were 800 students there. There were 26 students with reports. But in my Süleymanpaşa Primary School, while the number of students was 309, the number of students with reports was 31. This corresponded to 10%, which was very high and caught my attention. Because the average rate of students with reports is 3% in Turkey," he said.

Can also stated that one of the students whose condition improved after education had their report removed at the request of their classroom teacher, but the manager of the special education and rehabilitation center did not accept this. "A classroom teacher has the right to request a report or to remove a report by filling out an Educational Request Evaluation Form. In this way, one of our teachers prepares an Educational Request Evaluation Form to remove a child's report. The guidance teacher approves it, the school principal approves it. We send it to the Guidance Research Center (RAM). Later, the owner of a rehabilitation center operating in our district calls my guidance teacher. 'Why do you want to remove this child's report? Would a classroom teacher want to remove a report?' he indirectly pressures in this way. This issue also caught my attention," he said.

"I WILL HAVE YOUR CHILD TAKEN AWAY"

The school principal stated that parents were also threatened, saying:

"When an appointment is made for a student from the Guidance Research Center, an email comes to the school. When looking at the children who have appointments here, the child never comes to school. A constantly absent student. Or when I look at another one, it's the beginning of the second term, but the child has never come to school. They have come to school only a few times. It caught my attention that a student who does not go to school goes to the rehabilitation center. I decided to meet with the parents. I called the parents one by one. When I met with the parents, I found elements of crime. Some parents said that the rehabilitation center pressured them to extend their reports. Some parents said they wanted to cancel their registration, but the rehabilitation center did not want to cancel it, saying, 'I will report you to the Ministry of Family and Social Services. I will have your child taken away. I will have you fired. I have your e-Government password, I will take your property.' Parents complained to me in this way. I also learned that the owner of this rehabilitation center submitted fake reports two years ago by photocopying them in color to the Guidance Research Center. This investigation is currently being conducted by the Yenişehir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

"IF RED IS SHOWN, SAY GREEN"

İsmail Can claimed that some parents were complicit in the crime to receive care allowances: "Children who are not disabled are being shown as disabled. When the doctor is presented, when they are presented to RAM, the children are made to act. The children are instructed before going in front of the doctor. In fact, one doctor wrote in the report, 'The child speaks beautifully while playing before entering my room. After entering my room, he did not speak at all, he was silent.' The children are taught and instructed, 'If red is shown, say green, if 1 is shown, say 2,' and they are made to act crazy to get a report. Through these reports, disability allowances are received. Care allowances are received. Both parents are being exploited, and children are being exploited; children are being used in fraud, and unfortunately, some parents are complicit in this crime to receive care allowances and disability allowances," he stated.

Can also claimed that some doctors were in collusion with the institution, saying, "Just as healthy children are made to act and deceive doctors to obtain reports, unfortunately, bribes are also given to doctors to obtain reports. A student's parent came to me and said, 'Sir, we went to İnegöl State Hospital, we were not given a report, we went to Bilecik State Hospital, we were not given a report.Sure! Here is the translated text while preserving the existing HTML structure and translating the `title` and `alt` attributes within the `img` tags as well:



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But we went to Bursa City Hospital, they gave us a report, and a report was issued for the 20 people who went,' he said. Similarly, in one city hospital, a child is given a report stating 'mild intellectual disability.' However, when İnegöl RAM conducted a test, this child was found to have bright intelligence. He stated that we have a list of 3 students in this way.

"THE ONLY INSTITUTION WITH A TEACHER AS THE FOUNDER"

The owner of the special education and rehabilitation center, Psychological Counselor and Child Development Specialist Ö. T., denied the allegations against him. Stating that he is the owner of one of the 3 special education and rehabilitation centers in the district and has been providing services for 9 years, Ö. T. mentioned that they filed a criminal complaint against the school principal İsmail Can, saying, "We are the only institution with a teacher as the founder. The school principal is being used as a tool. Along with us, a complaint was also made about another special education center, but no complaint was made about the other one. Because despite being a public servant subject to Law No. 657, he is making a financial gain from this institution. We applied whatever regulations came from the ministry; I never called the school asking, 'Why are you removing the reports?' We are being subjected to character assassination," he said.