EMEP MP Sevda Karaca evaluates the issue of one free meal: 'They are trying to feed hungry children with prayers'

Kübra KARASU- 12punto.com.tr

On May 20, 2022, the Kocaeli Bread and Rose Solidarity Association (Kocaeli Ekmek ve Gül Dayanışma Derneği) launched a petition campaign titled, "One free, healthy meal in schools." 

On December 23, 2022, the then-Minister of National Education, Mahmut Özer, announced that free meals would be provided in all preschools starting from the second term of the 2022-2023 academic year. He also stated that students in schools with boarding facilities who do not stay in the dormitories would also benefit from this opportunity.

However, with a circular issued 7 months after the earthquake, the ministry shelved the promises made and decided to implement this practice only in the 11 provinces affected by the earthquake. 

On Monday, September 11, when schools opened, the free meal service provided to preschool students was completely terminated with a letter from the Ministry of National Education (MEB). 

"IT SHOWS THAT THIS IS A SITUATION THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION CANNOT EXPLAIN"

"One free, healthy meal in schools" campaigner and EMEP MP Sevda Karaca, who had previously brought the issue to Parliament, spoke to 12punto.

Stating that the Ministry of National Education has still not made a statement on the matter, Karaca said:

"The fact that the practice was effectively abolished and presented as a fait accompli without an official explanation shows us that this is a situation the Ministry of National Education cannot explain. We are facing a Ministry that does not take action when children's hunger is at stake, and even removes the small step it did take without making any explanation." 

"THE INTERPRETATION OF AN ELECTION INVESTMENT WOULD NOT BE TOO MALICIOUS"

Pointing out that limiting the practice to the earthquake zone is an indicator of how important children's nutrition in schools is, Karaca said, "Ultimately, we are talking about a very concrete need and one of the biggest problems of parents; it must have been thought that continuing it at least in the earthquake zone would soften the reactions that might come. However, there is also the fact that the contribution fee in kindergartens was removed during the election period and brought back in the new term. When we evaluate these together, it would not be too malicious to interpret it as an election investment."

"OFFICIALS OF SECT AND CONGREGATION ASSOCIATIONS ARE ROAMING FREELY"

Answering questions about the adequacy of the free meals provided in the earthquake zone, she said, "The earthquake zone is still an open area of deprivation. There are serious disruptions in education. The burden of education has been left entirely to families and educators who are putting in great effort in the earthquake zone. Existing educational opportunities are also being tried to be maintained through sect and congregation associations and their staff. There is a fact that we see clearly, especially in Adıyaman; officials of sect and congregation associations are roaming freely in container cities that have been turned into concentration camps, and all basic needs are being distributed through them. While people in Hatay cannot even reach drinking water and a clear demographic change policy is being implemented in the region, the meaning of distributing food, shelter, and clothing needs through these circles in different earthquake regions is clear. The same applies to the field of education. While in some places food opportunities are presented almost like rations through these apparatuses, we know that in some places, meals that have no continuity and whose content does not meet the needs of children are provided, and in some places, they are not provided at all."

"THE GOVERNMENT DID NOT SHY AWAY FROM DISPLAYING ITS HYPOCRITICAL STANCE"

Karaca continued her comments on the nutrition of children in the earthquake zone as follows:

"The government, which has made it a routine to explain every burden placed on the public with 'support for the earthquake zone, incentives, etc.', did not shy away from displaying this hypocritical stance regarding the elimination of one free meal for children. We continue our struggle to ensure that one free meal is provided to every child without discrimination in all state schools at all levels of education, and that the educational opportunities of students in the earthquake zone are brought to a humane level as soon as possible."

"THEY ARE TRYING TO FEED HUNGRY CHILDREN WITH PRAYERS"

Emphasizing that the free meal practice is the most requested issue regarding the MEB budget and that resources are demanded to be allocated from the budget for this, Karaca stated:

"For budget negotiations, you know that the Minister of National Education is more interested in the debate on mixed-gender education. He has such an open recklessness that he defends protocols with congregations and sects and announces that he will cooperate more. Therefore, the hunger of children and the fact that families send their children to school hungry are not agendas of demands that have turned into an outcry at this point. While it is said that there are no resources, as in the rest of the country, it is obvious how and to whom public expenditures are spent. The education budget, which is handed over to sects and congregations, is the clearest indicator of what kind of garment is being tailored for this society. They are trying to feed hungry children with prayers, silence desperate families with resignation, and make social life, where sects and congregations have settled, a completely dependent life, especially for the poor."

"AKP PREFERS TO ESTABLISH RELIGIOUS REACTIONISM"

Stating that the calculations discussed in the additional budget proposals are examples they give to the government side that says there are no resources, Karaca said, "With the money that will be used to appoint prayer rooms to kindergartens, religious officials under the name of spiritual counselors to schools, and imams to KYK dormitories today; it is possible to make the conditions of these places humane. Again; the government, which commits to erasing the tax debts of the country's rich before they are even born; could feed children's stomachs, improve the physical conditions of schools, meet the needs for scientific education, and employ teachers with those billions it erased. There is clearly a matter of preference here that we want to draw attention to. And that is this: It is not that there are no resources, there are resources. However, where the resource will be spent is a class and political preference. AKP prefers to feed capital and establish religious reactionism instead of feeding children."

"WOMEN WENT DOOR TO DOOR"

Stating that they try to voice the campaign at every opportunity in Parliament and continue all kinds of opportunities and cooperation to get it accepted, Karaca explained the process as follows:

"This campaign was carried out almost everywhere in the country, starting in September 2022 with the participation of women's and parent associations. Women went door to door. Within the scope of the campaign organized by the joint efforts of unions, women's associations, parent associations and organizations, and Bread and Rose Groups in the provinces;

46 organizations, including children's rights organizations, mass organizations, and women's associations, made a statement saying 'Nutrition is a human right of the child' and demanded one free, healthy meal in schools.

Education unions and Parent Associations held press conferences and organized petition campaigns together with women's associations."

Karaca also stated that calls, actions, and press conferences were held in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, and many cities of Anatolia. 

"WE THINK THIS STRUGGLE WILL YIELD RESULTS"

Karaca expressed that they think this struggle, led by women, will yield results and that children will attain one healthy meal.

She also gave an example of how this need has already found a place and been accepted in every field as one of the most important and visible needs of the country:

“Metropoll Turkey's Pulse November 2022 report included the demand for 1 free healthy meal. According to the report, 90 percent of the public wanted free meals to be provided to students in state schools.

The campaign also found a response in municipalities such as Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Kocaeli Izmit, Ankara Çankaya, and Adana Seyhan. The practice of providing meals to schools was implemented, albeit limited to some pilot points. Ankara Metropolitan Municipality announced that it would provide canteen support to the children of families receiving social assistance."

"IT IS NOT THE TIME TO SUBMIT"

Karaca finally ended her words as follows:

"The economy of plunder and looting deeply affects all social segments, including workers, the unemployed, peasants, all laborers, women, and youth. The price hikes and tax increases that have come like rain after the election have condemned millions who are up to their necks in credit and debt to even harsher conditions. For this reason, access to food has become more essential than it was when this campaign started. It is not the time to submit; we invite all the women of the country to embrace this campaign and raise the struggle by voicing the demand everywhere."

Selda Arslan, President of the Kocaeli Bread and Rose Association, who first launched the 'One Free Healthy Meal in Schools' campaign in 2022, also evaluated the issue for 12punto.

Stating that they put the campaign at the center of their work, Arslan said:

"WE SENT LETTERS TO ALL MPS"

"As Bread and Rose, we sent letters to all MPs in Parliament. We had a wide line of struggle and an example of solidarity in our meetings with local governments, education unions, labor unions, and Non-Governmental Organizations. We talked about our campaign with the petition stands we opened in front of schools, the leaflets we distributed, and the parents we met while waiting for their children in front of schools or during lunch.

In this process, we encountered requests for information about this campaign from many parts of Turkey to our association. We tried to help all women, all parents, all institutions, and organizations that reached out to us with examples of our work."

"POVERTY IS ALSO A FORM OF VIOLENCE"

Stating that they started the campaign based on TUIK data, Arslan said, "In our campaign, which we started by saying 'Poverty is also a form of violence and the most direct result of poverty is hunger', and where we put deepening child poverty right in the center, we reached some data showing that families cannot fill lunch boxes and 34 percent of children are moving away from education and starting child labor. Along with this, as you know, since we are a society that lives on minimum wage across Turkey, families can no longer put sufficient and healthy food into children's nutrition.

"GIRLS ARE THE FIRST TO BE REMOVED FROM EDUCATION"

Following this, the first to be removed from education among children are girls. First, girls are torn from education and then sent to textile workshops or to fields as seasonal workers. In some regions, girls who reach the age of 13-14 are torn from education and forced into early marriage, thinking that they are a great burden on the family budget. As for boys, again in line with families being forced by the system, our boys are employed as apprentices in industry or as seasonal workers and are categorized as child laborers. According to the data of the deep poverty and access to rights research, it has been revealed that in 6 percent of households, only children bring in income."

"AKP HAS TURNED THIS INTO AN ELECTION TOOL AS WELL"

Stating that politics is being made over child poverty, Arslan said, "In the days when the 2023-2024 education system started, the MEB stated that free meals would be provided to children in the earthquake zone. However, we determined in the consultations we made with parents who reached out to us from the earthquake zone that this did not come to life in practice as written in the circular. In the conversations we had with our teacher educator friends, we learned that either the ministry's letters reached them late or that the MEB did not allocate a budget to their schools regarding that nutrition hour. So we understand that the AKP government has turned our demand for our children's healthy nutrition into an election tool as well." said.

"A DISTRIBUTION WE DREAMED OF WAS NOT MADE ACROSS TURKEY"

Answering questions about whether the campaign found a response, Arslan said, "A free meal distribution that we dreamed of has not been made across Turkey so far. We thought of one meal in the form of three types of hot meals in a tray for every student in every school for the healthy development of our children, and our demand is in this direction. The food offered to our students in schools by local municipalities is in the form of skipping a meal, which we would call a stopgap, consisting of sandwiches and dried fruits or a piece of fruit or raisins/walnuts. Of course, we are not criticizing this. We know that it is a plan that far exceeds the budget of local municipalities. So, the food quality in the pilot schools provided for now does not overlap much with the truly healthy and free meal we demand. Of course, we are not rejecting the practice in those pilot schools at the moment."

"EXPENSES HAVE BEEN LEFT AS A BURDEN ON THE SHOULDERS OF FAMILIES"

Stating that putting the campaign into practice is not difficult but related to intention, Arslan ended her words as follows:

"In the budget studies this year, in line with the statements, or rather confessions, made by Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, we all listened with a confession-like statement that the MEB budget is transferred to congregations, sects, and reactionary conservative foundations, that this practice has been going on for years and will continue to be so. We know that the MEB received the largest share in the 2024 budget negotiations. We determined that even one million of the 38 billion 294 million dollar budget would be enough for our more than 19 million students to access one free and healthy meal. Unfortunately, while our ministries transfer millions and billions of liras from the budget to sects and congregations, the share they allocate to our children from these budgets, which are given with our taxes paid by those of us who study in state schools, is unfortunately zero. The expenses of our children such as transportation, nutrition, health, and stationery have been left as a burden on the shoulders of families again."

"RAW COST WOULD BE 50 TL"

Catering Consultant Kemal Çiçek, who 12punto consulted on the cost, evaluated that the raw cost would be 50 TL if one meal was provided.

According to this calculation;

Soup and rice 5 TL

Main course 30 TL

Other (dessert, drink) 10 TL

According to the announcement made by the Ministry of National Education, the lunch fee provided within the scope of the student transportation practice is determined based on the School Dormitories Law. In line with this regulation, since the daily table fee for 2023 was 39 TL, the meal fee was determined as 21.45 TL. 

According to the calculation made over 39 TL, since an academic year consists of approximately 180 working days in two terms, the annual cost for one student reaches 7,020 TL.

News Source: Kübra Karasu