A recent World Bank report displayed that the average Turkish teenager with 15-years of age is below her average OECD counterpart in intellectual skills as reading, math and science.

Turkey – World Bank Report, issued states that though education has strongly improved in Turkey in the last decade, the country still confronts problems in terms of the ‘ equity and quality ‘ of the education system.

In the past decade, Turkey has made great progress in getting its children—both girls and boys—enrolled in primary school through promotion campagnes. But now the quality of that education is coming under scrutiny as the average Turkish teenager is less inteligent than its counterpart in Europe.

Turkey : Quality of Education System is questioned

Just 16 % of 15-year-olds attend schools with “average reading, math or science test scores that are comparable to or above the OECD average,” creating an even wider gap among students caused by the varying degrees of quality of the education provided, according to the report.

Research shows that the average Turkish 15 year old is one full year behind his or her counterpart in other, similar countries. And the quality of education is uneven across Turkey. City schools tend to be stronger. More affluent children tend to go to better schools and perform better once there.

Socio-economic and religion-based factors create gaps in Turkish education system

The most important factor for the gaps in education comes from the “socio-economic and family background of individuals and religious superstitions” .

Turkey has to improve education in order “to respond to the growth and competitive ambitions of the country,” the report stated while suggesting that better early childhood education, more efficient teachers, better systems of financing and more accountability could be possible solutions to the challenges.

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