The other side of MESEM: 9 child workers lost their lives in the last year

The Health and Safety Labor Assembly (İSİG) has shared data on child workers who lost their lives while employed under the Vocational Training Centers (MESEM) program during the 2023-2024 academic year.

According to the data, 9 child workers lost their lives in the previous academic year while working under the guise of internships and apprenticeships.

MESEM, which paves the way for hundreds of thousands of children between the ages of 14 and 17 to be employed in heavy working conditions under the name of vocational training, continues to be a subject of debate following these child worker deaths.

With a law published in the Official Gazette in December 2016, apprenticeship training was included in the scope of formal and compulsory education, and vocational training centers (MESEM) were affiliated with the General Directorate of Vocational and Technical Education. According to the law, those who have completed the age of 14 and are primary school graduates can sign an apprenticeship contract, provided that other conditions are met.

According to the data shared by İSİG, the information regarding the 9 child workers who were still in high school and lost their lives in work-related accidents while working in different cities across Turkey is as follows:

1- Alperen Enes Ural

17 years old. He was injured after falling from a height while installing natural gas pipes at a construction site where he was working as an intern in Soma, Manisa. He lost his life in the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for five days.

2- Murat Can Eryılmaz

17 years old. A 12th-grade student at Kilis MESEM. He was seriously injured after falling from a height while working at a 13-story construction site. He lost his life at the Malatya Turgut Özal Faculty of Medicine Hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for 72 days.

3- Erol Can Yavuz

15 years old. A 9th-grade student in the Interior Furniture Technology Department at the Kütahya Vocational Training Center. He lost his life after particle board blocks fell on him at the furniture workshop where he was interning at the Kütahya New Industrial Site.

4- Arda Tonbul

14 years old, a worker at Özkanlar Metal Demir Çelik Endüstrisi AŞ. He was seriously injured after his head was trapped in a sheet metal bending machine for 16 minutes at the workplace where he was interning in Büyükçekmece, Istanbul. He lost his life in the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for 6 days. He was from Çamoluk, Giresun.

5- Ömer Çakar

17 years old, a 10th-grade student at Diyarbakır Kayapınar Martyr Abdulvahap Çokur Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School. He was interning at an air conditioning company under the MESEM program. He was seriously injured after falling from the 2nd floor while installing an air conditioner. He lost his life in the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for 6 days.

6- Zekai Dikici

16 years old. An 11th-grade student in the Electrical Installation Department at the Manisa Alaşehir Sümer Oral Vocational Training Center. He lost his life after falling from the 5th floor while performing electrical installation work at a construction site around 7:00 PM.

7- Ulaş Dumlu

17 years old, a 12th-grade student in the Electrical Department at ERMES Science and Technical College. He lost his life after falling into a treatment pool from an electricity pole he had climbed to fix a malfunction at the Bahri Dağdaş Sugar Factory, where he had gone with the electrical firm where he was an intern in Ereğli, Konya.

8- Alperen Kocayavuz

15 years old, a student at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School. He lost his life after falling into an elevator shaft from the 6th floor of a construction site where he was working as an intern in Çubuk, Ankara.

9- Eren Dağ

16 years old. In Karapınar, Konya, around 8:00 PM, he lost his life after being electrocuted while drilling work was being carried out to open a well in a field in the Akören area, where he had gone with the drilling company he worked for under the MESEM program.

News Source: 12punto