The European Commission adopted a financial decision, amounting to €530 million, to support inclusive quality education for refugees and access to higher education in Turkey, notably through scholarships and support of the project on Promoting Integration of Syrian Kids into Turkish Education System (PIKTES).

Turkey has been hosting around 4 million refugees, the largest refugee community in the world. This includes 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees and 370,000 registered refugees from other countries. Turkey continues to make commendable efforts to receive, support and host refugees and migrants. As of September 2020, Turkey hosts 3,618,918 Syrians according to Ministry of Interior, DG Migration Management data and 1,213,819 of whom are school aged children (5-17), all of whom need support to remain in education.

On the 21st of December the European Commission adopted a financing decisions, amounting to €530 million, to support inclusive quality education for refugees in Turkey and access to higher education as part of an additional €3 billion announced by President von der Leyen in June 2021 to continue EU assistance to refugees in Turkey for the period of 2021-2023. This assistance is primarily going to be executed through scholarships, one vehicle of which is the project on Promoting Integration of Syrian Kids into Turkish Education System (PIKTES).

PIKTES (Project on Promoting Integration of Syrian Kids into the Turkish Education System) is a European Union funded project implemented by the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) of the Republic of Turkey with direct grant management under Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT). The project on Promoting Integration of Syrian Kids into Turkish Education System (PIKTES), which started in 2016 and provides essential support to the integration of refugee children into the Turkish education system. To date, there have been two PIKTES projects. The third phase would start in October 2022. In addition to specific objective of supporting MoNE in its efforts to increase integration of Syrian children and their access to quality education, the project has an overall objective of increasing the enrolment and attendance rates of Syrian children and youth in quality formal education.

PIKTES, implemented in 26 provinces of Turkey stands out as a good practice of comprehensive education for Syrian students that strengthens social cohesion and increases academic standing. It met basic education needs of Syrian students from primary to the high school level in the first implementation period. The scope of the project was extended to cover early childhood education and social cohesion in order to provide all encompassing opportunities.

Activities

1. Provision of Turkish and Arabic Language courses for Syrian children both in and out of school.

2.Provision of catch-up training courses for Syrian children out of school.

3. Provision of additional (back-up) training courses for Syrian children in schools and TECs.

4. Provision of school transfer for Syrian students.

5. Distribution of complementary teaching materials to Syrian children.

6. Awareness raising on educational opportunities for Syrian students.

7. Revision, development and purchase of education material.

8. Development of examination system to determine the academic levels and Turkish language skills of Syrian teachers and students.

9. Provision of secure, hygienic and proper learning environments in schools and education institutions.

10. Provision of education equipment to schools and TECs.

11. Provision of training for teachers, administrative and other staff of MoNE.

12. Monitoring and evaluation activities.