One day a family and their son came next to me. His family had just moved to Istanbul from Nisebin. The child’s teacher said, “Your child has a problem, he cannot understand comfort and does not make friends with anyone, he needs special education.”
Psychologist Sinda Baris
Psychologist Sinda Baris explains this case of Kurdish students living in metropolises with these words.
She works in a private institution in the Kucukcekmece district of Istanbul and is mostly connected with children.
According to Sinda, the biggest problem is that Kurdish students feel alone and strange in the metropolises. The cause of their foreigness is the language.
These days, the importance of education in the mother tongue is on the agenda and a campaign is being carried out for the selection of Kurdish lessons.
Bi 100TLyan (3 Dolar) bibe abone. Ji bo medyaya Kurdî ya serbixwe #MeTuHeyî, heger ji te neyê 100 TLyan bidî, her tişt ji bo te belaş e lê heger tu bikarî heqê keda Kurdî bidî kerem bike bibe abone.
Sinda Baris, a member of the Mesopotamia Psychologists Initiative, talked with Botan Times about the importance of mother tongue education.
“Teachers do not understand this case well…”
Sinda says, “There wasn’t any problem with that student. Contrary to what his teacher said, he was very active when he was in Nisebin and he had many friends. But in Istanbul, he feels excluded from the community.”
“They can’t speak Turkish well like other students”
Psychologist Sinda explains that when Kurdish children come to the metropolitan, they fall into this situation and said,
Since their mother tongue is not Turkish, they cannot speak Turkish well like other students and this creates shame in them. Teachers who do not understand this situation well send them to special education.
Psychologist Sinda Baris
Psychologist Sinda is originally from Nisebin. More Kurdish families have moved to the place where she works.
According to her, the number of children in this situation is too much. She know that there is no problem with that child and what is the reason.
But if she doesn’t meet those children and another psychologist sees that child, then the situation changes…
According to the psychologist, the solution to this problem is directly related to education in the mother tongue.
According to Article 42 of Turkish law, no language other than Turkish can be used as the language of education in educational institutions in Turkey.
According to the Kurdish Institute of Sweden, 32 million and 812 thousand Kurds live in Turkey. In addition to this number, they are deprived of their right to education.
Note: In the example of psychologist, the name and location of the student have been changed.
