A new system introduced to stop public schools from seeking registration fees from parents seems to have failed. With the beginning of the new academic term on Thursday, many parents complain they had to pay registration fees to public schools despite the fact that their children were already registered with an online system



While public education in Turkey officially remains free of charge, school managers continue to ask parents to pay registration fees.

While public schools will open their doors for millions of students on Thursday, this year has not been an exception to the practice of requesting donations during registration.

Despite a statement by Education Minister Nimet Çubukçu in May warning school managers not to ask for donations during registration, parents said they were asked for donations during registration, which started last month.

Ayşe Taşkın said she was asked for 300 Turkish Liras but that she paid 200 liras for registering her daughter at Hasan Leyli Primary School, a public school in the İçerenköy neighborhood on the Anatolian side of Istanbul. As other schools asked for outrageous registration fees under the guise of donations, Taşkın was content with the price she paid.

“I wanted to send Buse to a public school in Ataşehir, but they asked for 3,000 liras,” she said. “Then, I registered her here for 200 liras.”

Most parents who paid money to public primary schools said they paid it willingly. But they believe these fees should be reasonable and that managers should not force people to pay.

Another mother who declined to give her name said she was asked to pay 300 liras when registering her 6-year-old son to a primary school in the İçerenköy neighborhood but that she could pay only 50 liras.

“I have three children who attend public schools. When I told the school manager that I could not pay that much, he said I could pay 50 liras instead. They were helpful. But it disturbed me that I had to bargain for registration and tell the school manager that I could not afford that money,” the woman said, adding that even if schools ask for donations during registration, they should ask an exact amount of money but leave the decision of whether to pay up to the parents.

She said the total expenses of three children in public school are more than 1,000 liras, including school uniforms, stationary and other expenses.

Starting this year, registration is done automatically according to the student’s place of residence, but that did not deter school managers from requesting donations.

Mustafa Kovanlık, teacher and member of the Kadıköy branch of the education workers union, Eğitim-Sen, said the registrations are done automatically and that even if parents do not pay, their children are already registered to the school closest to their house.

“But many parents are not aware of the new system,” he said. “Some schools still use registration as a way of taking donations from parents.”

Kovanlık said the system is bringing teachers and parents into a problematic situation. He said there are some parents who cannot afford registration fees or annual dues because they lost their jobs during the economic crisis.

“When the teacher is forced to ask for dues from students or parents, parents who cannot pay the dues do not come to the school anymore, even to learn about their child’s situation,” he said.

Schools lack sufficient budgets, and they try to compensate from the money they get from the parents. Requesting donations also results from families’ desire to send their children to a public school that they believe has better conditions, according to Kovanlık. “Because in certain schools in Istanbul around 70 students attend one classroom, parents want to send their kids to schools with better conditions and don’t object to paying extra money for it,” he said.

Emine Çelik, mother of a son in high school and one in primary school, said her older son asked her to treat them equally. “My older son told me to send his brother to the same school he attended. He said his brother deserved a good education, too. So I paid 100 liras for registering my little son to the same school,” she said. Çelik is a housewife, and her husband works. She said she cleans houses to earn a living but has tried to pay as much as she can for her children’s education