A country of students who cannot be fed adequately

The PISA report was published recently. Most educators evaluated the report based on test scores. What was Turkey's ranking in mathematics, science, and reading literacy; did we progress, did we regress, and so on...

Although the situation is not very bright, it was observed that there were partial improvements compared to the previous report. After all, the science of statistics gives everyone a little something to be happy about, doesn't it?

The Ministry of National Education (MEB) even published charts showing the improvement. Anyway, let's put the scores aside now and get to the part that truly hurts.

Our children are not being fed adequately, our children go to school hungry, they listen to lessons on an empty stomach all day at school, and we expect these children to compete with their peers in OECD countries.

According to the report, one in every 5 students in Turkey skips a meal at least once a week. While the rate of students going hungry in this way in Turkey is 19.3 percent, the OECD average is 8.2 percent.

What can be taught to students whose stomachs are growling in the classroom, and how much can these students learn?

While students going to school hungry is a major problem, on the other hand, our children also have difficulty accessing healthy food.

According to the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute's (TÜİK) 'Turkey Child Survey', most of our children can only fill their stomachs with bread and pasta. When this is the case, it is of course impossible to get efficiency from education...

With the data out in the open, the necessary measures must now be taken immediately.

The Ministry of National Education must identify students who have difficulty accessing food; it must create reports and ensure the implementation of at least one free meal for children from poor families, as is practiced in many OECD countries...

If we do not ensure that our children are fed healthily, we cannot ensure that they receive a quality education.