Social crisis: School, fees, and survival

School is no longer just an educational institution; it also functions as a daycare, and sometimes even as a semi-open prison. We hope that, in between, things are taught and the child gains survival skills. However, we also have extremely basic expectations, such as keeping them away from crime and bad habits.

In today's conditions, both parents working is not a choice, but a necessity. Especially in big cities, it is almost impossible to build a life on a single salary. While parents are working, the child needs to be in a safe place. In the current nature of social relations, the only equivalent to this is school.

However, there is a serious disconnect here. Leaving aside the debate over the quality of education, state schools can keep a child until 2:00 PM at the latest. Yet, parents' working hours are, at best, between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. The gap in between must be filled either by a nanny or by after-school study centers. For most families, this means a significant additional cost. Indeed, more than half of a single salary can go toward this "supplementary" expense.

At this point, private schools appear to be an alternative. Completely independent of the quality of education, the biggest advantage they offer is being an institution where a child can be "entrusted" from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. But this time, we are faced with a much heavier bill. In Ankara, the annual cost of a private school today is at least 400,000 TL. Moreover, this is only valid for the 10-month academic term.

Working parents also have to think about the summer months. Since a two-month uninterrupted vacation is not possible for most families, summer school becomes inevitable. This means an additional burden of approximately 100,000 TL. As a result, the annual cost of "keeping a child in school" approaches 500,000 TL.

There is a clear social crisis at hand. Child-rearing, working life, housing, and cost-of-living problems are intertwined. Moreover, this crisis is not easing; it is deepening. If we do not have implicit goals such as reducing the population, discouraging workers from having children, and creating a society where only a certain income group can afford to have children, we are heading down a very wrong path.

This issue is neither an ideological debate nor a luxury debate above politics. We are talking about a structural problem that concerns the entire political spectrum. My wish is for this crisis to finally be addressed with the seriousness it deserves.