Mass Influx and Right to Primary Education – Case & Field Study of Syrian Refugee Children in Turkey

Sammanfattning: Since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011,the number of Syrian refugees reached approximately 3 million; nearly half of them are children. Although primary education has always been available, education services for Syrian refugees were subject to frequent changes particularly between 2011-2014. The biggest and most significant step was taken in the 2016/2017 school year as a result of long-term policies implemented in 2014. The primary objective behind the education policy became integrating all Syrian refugee children into Turkish schools. According 2016 statistics, almost 40 percent of school-aged children (5-17 years old) do not go to school. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the legal framework and the degree of implementation of the right of Syrian refugee children to primary education considering the international human rights standards, describing Turkey’s obligations arising from international human rights instruments and carrying out a field study in Turkey with the aim of finding out the situation in practice.