2020 Global Education Monitoring Report*, which looks at social, economic, and cultural mechanisms that discriminate against disadvantaged children, youth, and adults, keeping them out of education or marginalized in it. Countries are expanding their vision of inclusion in education to put diversity at the core of their systems. Released at the start of the Decade of Action to 2030, and during the Covid-19 crisis, which has exacerbated underlying inequalities, the report argues that resistance to addressing every learner’s needs is a real threat to achieving global education targets.

The commitment of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) to ensure “inclusive and equitable quality education” and promote “lifelong learning for all” is part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development pledge to leave no one behind. The agenda promises a “just, equitable, tolerant, open and socially inclusive world in which the needs of the most vulnerable are met” (UN 2015, paragraphs 8 and 9). Social, economic, and cultural factors may complement or run counter to the achievement of equity and inclusion in education. Education offers a key entry point for inclusive societies if policymakers and educators see learner diversity not as a problem but as a challenge.

Education systems need to treat every learner with dignity in order to overcome barriers, raise attainment, and improve learning.

Inclusive education is commonly associated with the needs of people with disabilities and the relationship between special and mainstream education. Since 1990, the struggle of people with disabilities has shaped the global perspective on inclusion in education, leading to recognition of the right to inclusive education in Article 24 of the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD 2016 ).

This follows its 2019 edition, which focused on the closely related topic of inclusion of migrant and displaced populations in national education systems.

Inclusion in education as a process and result

Inclusion in education is, first and foremost, a process contributing to the achievement of the goal of social inclusion. Defining equitable education requires a distinction between “equality” and “equity”. Equality is a state of affairs (what): a result that can be observed in inputs, outputs, or outcomes. Equity is a process (how): actions aimed at ensuring equality. Defining inclusive education is more complicated because the concept conflates process and result.

This report argues for thinking of inclusion primarily as a process: actions that embrace diversity and build a sense of belonging, rooted in the belief that every person has value and potential and should be respected, regardless of their background, ability, or identity.

Poverty and inequality are major constraints. According to the World Inequality Database, despite progress in reducing extreme poverty, especially in Asia, it affects 2 in 10 children worldwide, 5 in 10, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Progress in education access is stagnating. Globally, an estimated 258 million children, adolescents and youth, or 17% of the total, are not in school. Poverty affects attendance, completion, and learning opportunities. In all regions except Europe and Northern America, adolescents from the richest 20% of households are three times more likely to complete lower secondary school than their peers from the poorest 20%.

Those most likely to be excluded from education are also disadvantaged due to language, location, gender, and ethnicity.In at least 20 countries with data, hardly any poor rural young woman completed upper secondary school.

Careful planning and provision of inclusive education can deliver improvement in academic achievement, social and emotional development, self-esteem, and peer acceptance. Including diverse students in mainstream classrooms and schools can prevent stigma, stereotyping, discrimination, and alienation. It is a prerequisite for education in, and for, a democracy based on fairness, justice, and equity. It provides a systematic framework for removing barriers according to the principle “every learner matters and matters equally”.

Inclusion improves learning for all students and must be the foundation of approaches to teaching and learning.

The 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report asks questions related to key policy solutions, obstacles to implementation, coordination mechanisms, financing channels, and monitoring of inclusive education.

The report collects information on how each country, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, addresses the challenge of inclusion in education and recognizes the different contexts and challenges facing countries in providing inclusive education. Its coverage is broad, addressing the albinos in sub-Saharan Africa, the stateless in Arab countries, the displaced Rohingya in Asia, the Roma in Europe, the Afro-descendants in Latin America.

It addresses these challenges through seven chapters: laws and policies; data; governance and finance; curriculum, textbooks, and assessments; teachers; schools; and students, parents, and communities.

Learner diversity is a strength to celebrate

The world has committed to inclusive education, not by chance but because it is the foundation of an education system of good quality that enables every child, youth, and adult to learn and fulfill their potential. Gender, age, location, poverty, disability, ethnicity, indigeneity, language, religion, migration or displacement status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, incarceration, beliefs, and attitudes should not be the basis for discrimination against anyone in education.

The prerequisite is to see learner diversity not as a problem but as an opportunity. Education systems need to be responsive to all learners’ needs.

The report makes 10 recommendations to achieve inclusion targets by the 2030 deadline.

1. Widen the understanding of inclusive education: It should include all learners, regardless of identity, background or ability.

2. Target financing to those left behind: There is no inclusion while millions lack access to education.

3. Share expertise and resources: This is the only way to sustain a transition to inclusion.

4. Governments should open space for communities to voice their preferences as equals in the design of policies on inclusion in education.

5. Ensure cooperation across government departments, sectors, and tiers: Inclusion in education is but a subset of social inclusion.

6. Make space for non-government actors to challenge and fill gaps: But also make sure they work toward the same inclusion goal.

7. Apply universal design: Ensure inclusive systems fulfill every learner’s potential.

8. Prepare, empower, and motivate the education workforce: All teachers should be prepared to teach all students .

9. Collect data on and for inclusion with attention and respect: Avoid stigmatizing labeling.

10. Learn from peers: A shift to inclusion is not easy.

*https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2020/inclusion

Click for the full report

Summarized by Broken Chalk

Abdullah Bozkurt*, Sweden-based a Turkish journalist living in exile, was attacked yesterday near his home in Stockholm. Bozkurt is an Executive Director of the Nordic Research Monitoring Network**.  Nordic Research Monitoring Network is a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness of radical and violent extremists.

“Within minutes of getting out of my home, one of the three men approached me behind and unexpectedly knocked me down. As I fell to the asphalt pavement, they started punching me in the face and on the head” Bozkurt said, adding that the perpetrators then ran away.

After the attack Bozkurt said; “I know this attack was meant to send me a message due to my journalistic work revealing the injustices and wrongdoings committed in Turkey … I reject this message.”

*Bozkurt is a journalist and author with over 20 years of experience in journalism. He has served in various capacities in the Turkish media as bureau chief in New York, Washington, D.C., and Ankara. His specialty is covering radical jihadist groups operating in Turkey and its neighborhood.

**Nordic Research Monitoring Network is a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness on radical and violent extremist trends in Europe and beyond, with a specific focus on patterns that may very well disturb and disrupt social peace, harmony, and community integration. It hopes to contribute to the debate on how nations should prevent and combat radicalization with close cooperation and collaboration between all relevant stakeholders at all levels of governance including the NGO community and civil society.

Mehmet Altan is the son of Cetin Altan* and brother to Ahmet Altan**. All three suffer from undemocratic acts of leaders of their time. His brother Ahmet Altan is still in prison. He worked as an academician at Istanbul University and was dismissed with an emergency decree law from the university; and spent nearly two years behind bars. He wrote an open letter to Robert Spano to the president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Spano prepares to arrive in Turkey for a visit this week and receive an honorary doctor degree from the university, which Altan was dismissed.

Here is his letter to Spano:

My open letter to Robert Spano, the president of the European Court of Human Rights*** 

Dear President,

There are more than sixty thousand individual applications that have been lodged from Turkey to the European Court of Human Rights. Turkey ranks second after Russia when it comes to violations of rights.

As you know, I am one of the citizens of the Republic of Turkey whose constitutional rights were disregarded. I said as you know because my application was reviewed by the 2nd Section, which at the time was under your presidency.

On 20 March 2018, the 2nd Section of the ECtHR, presided over by you, set a precedent in universal law and ruled that my right to personal liberty and security and my freedom of expression had been violated. Turkey was convicted.

I thank you and the Court you now preside over for this judgment. Law prevailed.

Dear president,

Your judgment concerning me has a place in ECtHR’s history:

Ergin Ergül, who was appointed on behalf of Turkey to that case and was the only judge dissenting, put forward such arguments that you wrote “a dissenting vote” against a dissenting vote, for the first time in the history of ECtHR, if I am not mistaken. And the other members followed you.

It was announced that on September 3 2020 you will be visiting Turkey as the Minister of Justice’s guest.

But what took me aback was to find out that you will be receiving an honorary doctorate from Istanbul University.

I am reminding of the detail above exactly for this reason, to give information on the state of “the judiciary” and “law education.”

I wonder if you keep in mind that Ergin Ergül, against whom, in the name of universal law you found yourself having to cast a dissenting opinion, is a graduate of Istanbul University which will be awarding you an honorary doctorate?

Your secretariat certainly must have informed you that Istanbul University had given an honorary doctorate of law to Kenan Evren too.

Dear President,

I taught for 30 years at Istanbul University, where you will be receiving a “honorary law doctorate.” And I became a professor there 27 years ago.

I heard on television that I had been dismissed from the university through a statutory decree on 29 October 2016, while I was in my cell in prison, a month after I was detained as a result of the violation of three articles of the constitution. The people who will be giving you an honorary doctorate are the very people who dismissed me and many other academics.

I was not released despite the Constitutional Court’s judgment finding violations of three separate constitutional rights and ordering my release. To top it off, right afterwards I was sentenced to aggravated life in prison. Even after the judgment by the ECtHR, presided over by you, held that there had been a violation of my rights, the 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice upheld my conviction. I mean to say that the event of such judicial scandals is not unusual.

Ultimately however, on 4 November 2019, I was acquitted and my acquittal became final after the Court of Cassation ruled for my acquittal.

But my ongoing case concerning my dismissal from the university is still waiting to be taken up by the Ankara 21st Administrative Court. In that case, the accused is Istanbul University, where you will be receiving your honorary doctorate.

Despite being acquitted, despite the judgments by the Constitutional Court and the ECtHR, I have not been able to return to my university where you will be receiving an honorary doctorate.

The university from which you will be receiving your doctorate, is “the accused institution” in the trials brought by many academics who were dismissed through a statutory decree as I was.

These proceedings are ongoing and it is likely that they will also be brought before the ECHR that you preside over. But in the meantime you will have become a Judge who has received an honorary doctorate from Istanbul University. I’m not sure how gratifying it would be to become a honorary member of a university, which has unjustly kicked out and forced into unemployment and poverty hundreds of academics.

Under normal circumstances, of course it would be pleasing to hear that you will be visiting Turkey. Unfortunately that’s not the case.

Dear President,

The ECtHR, under your presidency, guarantees protection of the freedoms and rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

We want to believe that ECtHR of which you are the president secures the rights of everyone under its jurisdiction.

It is hard to say that our faith always remains intact.

The very section of the Court that you presided had given priority status to the application of Ahmet Altan, whose novels have been published in 23 countries, and who, even despite the Covid-19 pandemic has remained behind bars in Silivri Prison for the past four years. Even though the court is very much familiar with the file’s content, unfortunately we have been waiting for that priority to come into effect for the past four years.

And of course we are very much aware of the efforts being made to prevent the review of Ahmet Altan’s application and to ensure that no definitive judgment finding rights violations is made when it is taken up. But just as this is not the appropriate place to discuss this, I rather not comment on this further.

Indisputably, you are free to make your own choices. And it is clear that every one of your choices will reflect onto future decisions and bring forth new consequences.

I would like to extend an early welcome to Turkey, where you will be visiting as the President of an international high court, built upon a convention, to which victims of the judiciary have high hopes attached.

Sincerely.

31.08.2020

MEHMET ALTAN

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87etin_Altan

** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Altan

*** https://www.expressioninterrupted.com/open-letter-to-president-of-the-european-court-of-human-rights/

From September 24, 2018, when he was diagnosed with cancer until May 7, 2020, when he died, the story of two years of resistance, suffering, and persecution.

Ahmed Burhan Atac, the children of Zekiye-Harun Reha Ataç, was diagnosed with bone cancer on September 24, 2018. When he was diagnosed, his father was under arrest. Ahmet’s 2-year struggle for his life reflects Turkey’s recent grim years.

On February 20, 2018, while Ahmet was playing games with his friends in the nursery school. His mother, Zekiye Atac, his father Harun Reha Atac, and his little sister were taken to the police station. Ahmet was only six years old. Mrs. Atac, who was laid off during the state of emergency, was detained for 14 days. She was released after being detained for another 2.5 months. Mr. Atac was banned from teaching with a statutory decree. After being arrested for 13 days, he was arrested on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization. One of the reason was, he was a director in a private dormitory which was affiliated with the Gulen movement. The period Ahmet has been without his parents for three months coincides with the onset of his cancer.

NO DISCOUNT FOR YOU!

Harun Reha Atac, who was on trial at the Adana 2nd High Criminal Court, was sentenced to 9 years and nine months in prison. Two months after his son was diagnosed with cancer. On November 30, 2018, according to the medical reports, Ahmet was diagnosed with cancer and started chemotherapy, were submitted to the 2nd High Criminal Court of Adana, and a legal request was made regarding Mr. Atac’s release pending trial until the Supreme Court decision. Adana 2nd High Criminal Court President ruled on Harun Reha Atac’s detention by saying, “I have no remission whatsoever for you.”

Ahmet was taken to treatment at Cukurova University Hospital. When he did not recover with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, he had an operation in July 2019, and the tumor in his shoulder blade was cleaned. However, during controls performed in September 2019, it was determined that cancer spread to his lung.

Mother Zekiye Atac said, “We had an interim evaluation this week. A tumor of 4 cm. in size was detected in the lung. Doctors were also shocked to see such growth and spread in such a short time. I am helpless. My son is dying before my eyes. ” Following the mother’s comments and Ahmet’s emotional video in which he wished his father was by his side, the story of Ahmet attracted attention on social media.

LET HIM BEAT CANCER WITH HIS FATHER

A campaign was launched on social media for Ahmet’s father to be tried without arrest and to be with his son during the treatment process.

Mother Zekiye Atac said, “We had a phone call in the morning with his father in prison, but Ahmet did not want to talk to his father on the phone. Because he couldn’t stand it, but then he asked me, “What did my father say?”. Please, Lord, let him come on his own, not on the phone.” Thousands of social media users showed support with hashtags like “Let Him Beat Cancer With His Father,” and Ahmet’s story got recognized on a national level.

AHMET’S MOTHER GOT DETAINED

While the sharp criticism over the court order against Mr. Atac’s release continued, Mrs. Zekiye Atac was detained for the second time on October 15, 2019. Ahmet was left without a father and a mother. Zekiye Atac was accused of being a ‘member of the terrorist organization’ because she accepted the donations for the treatment of his son, said Mrs. Atac’s relatives. Zekiye Atac was released on bail the next day, after public outrage regarding her detention.

A HOPE OF TREATMENT ABROAD

As Ahmet’s disease progressed, his doctors directed the family to Germany, saying that he could be treated at the Immuno-Oncology Center in Cologne, Germany. Upon contacting the clinic, it was stated that Ahmet could be processed, provided that he is transferred promptly. The family did not have the economic power to cover the expenses. Only after it was announced that a business person would cover the costs of the first stage of the treatment, Ahmet flew to Germany on January 20, 2020. Mrs. Atac could not accompany his son because of her overseas travel ban. Gülsüm Atac, Ahmet’s 70-year-old grandmother, accompanied him.

FUNDRAISING IN 24 HOURS

Human Rights Defender Arlet Natali Avazyan, who closely followed Ahmet’s case, stepped in and started a charity campaign on Twitter on January 24, 2020, for treatment expenses. The required 50 thousand euros was raised within 24 hours.

MRS. ATAC EXPRESSES GRATITUDE

Mother Atac stated that raising the money necessary for the treatment under 24 hours was very moving. She added: “I would like to thank Mrs. Natali and all those contributed for their financial and moral support. Now I believe more firmly that my son will be treated. I think he will recover and be with us again. “

He was saying that her husband, who is in prison, is pleased that Ahmet went to Germany for treatment. Mrs. Atac added, “I will inform him that the money needed for treatment is raised during our phone call tomorrow. He will be pleased with that. Because all he thinks about is his son”.

APPEAL AGAINST THE OVERSEAS TRAVEL BAN

Mother Atac intensified her attempts to lift the overseas travel ban and to get a passport. However, the prosecution did not raise the ban.

But Ahmet, apart from his mother in Germany, was always crying. His mood was very poor, and therefore he did not respond to the treatment at the desired level. Mete Atakul, a businessman who hosted Ahmet at his home in Germany, said that Ahmet did not even eat properly because of his grief.

TRIPLE TRAVEL BAN

Thanks to intense public pressure, Zekiye Atac’s ban on overseas travel was lifted by court order in February 2020. However, upon the objection made by the prosecutor’s office, the court re-imposed the ban for the second time.

After Mrs. Atac’s failed attempt to meet Ahmet in Germany, Ahmet returned to Turkey to see his mother on February 8, during the two-week break of his treatment.

As a result of the attempts made by Natali Avazyan and HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, Mrs. Atac’s ban on overseas travel was lifted again on February 21, 2020. The German Embassy quickly issued a visa to Mrs. Atac.

On March 2, 2020, Zekiye Atac was stopped once again while flying to Germany from Istanbul Airport with Ahmet. Mother Atac learned at the airport that this time, the 7th High Criminal Court of Mersin issued a travel ban for the third time.

“YOU ARE KILLING MY SON COLLECTIVELY”

Zekiye Atac posted a video on her social media account with the note “You are killing my son collectively”: “We are in Istanbul now. We flew from Adana to Istanbul this morning for our connecting flight to Cologne. Still, unfortunately, the police confiscated my passport. Passport and visas had been issued, but unfortunately, they re-imposed the ban the next day. Ahmet should be in Cologne tomorrow. He needs to catch up with his treatment. His condition is not well. Please, I want this dilemma resolved!”

AHMET FLIES TO GERMANY WITH HIS MOTHER

Ahmet and his mother stayed at the airport to solve the problem. Public outrage sparked over social media. Singer and philanthropist Haluk Levent announced that he had talked to Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu. The next day, on March 3, 2020, the travel ban was lifted again, and Ahmet flew to Cologne with his mother.

IT WAS TOO LATE

Time lost because of judicial processes worsened Ahmet’s health. He had many fractures in his leg bones, his blood test values decreased, and he did not respond to treatment.

Doctors in Cologne stated that Ahmet’s blood values ​​were critically low and that his body could not bear the treatment, and it was too late.

Ahmet and his mother moved back to Turkey on March 11, 2020.

Mother Atac said that the doctors informed her that Ahmet’s blood values ​​have fallen too low since the first treatment. He should gather strength to continue the second stage of the procedure.

PHONE CALL BETWEEN FATHER AND SON

A campaign was held for the father to be tried without arrest. On March 27, 2020, the record of a telephone conversation between Ahmet and his father was published.

During the conversation, Ahmet wants his father to ‘come.’ He cries: “Come here now. I can’t stand it anymore.” His father, Harun Atac, replies: “My son, I can’t come. I want to go as well, but I can’t, son. They don’t let me out, my baby. “

A MEETING OF 5 HOURS

After the massive effect of the record, the same day prosecutor’s office allowed Mr. Atac to meet Ahmet for 5 hours for the first time. For a 5-hour meeting, father Harun Atac came to the hospital where Ahmet was.

After meeting his father, photos of Ahmet sleeping with a smile on his face in a long time were published.

All the appeals for Mr. Atac’s release pending trial were subsequently denied.

THE SECOND CAMPAIGN TO BOOST MORALE: I LOVE AHMET

Arlet Natali Avazyan started a new campaign to boost Ahmet’s morale. Social media users said, ‘I love Ahmet’ with the videos and messages they shared. The hashtag campaign launched by Avazyan on social media grew immensely. Celebrities and famous social media users shared supportive videos.

INTENSIVE CARE: FATHER NOT ALLOWED

Ahmet’s condition worsened every day, and eventually, he was taken into intensive care on May 6, 2020. Doctors put Ahmet to sleep.

Permission was asked from the prosecutor’s office for the father Harun Reha Atac, who was detained in Tarsus Prison to see Ahmet for the last time. Those who accompany the family said that Harun Atac was not allowed to be with his son on that night when Ahmet was in intensive care, but only the following day.

SUCCUMBED TO CANCER

At the end of his battle against the bone cancer he was diagnosed with under the conditions of ’emergency state,’ Ahmet had three heart failures. During the early hours of May 7, 2020, Ahmet passed away…

*Translated by Broken Chalk team from https://aktifhaber.com/gundem/el-birligiyle-oldurulen-cocuk-ahmet-burhan-atacin-hayati-h145081.html

Following the July 15 incidents, many people had to leave Turkey. Among them are a large number of university students as well. Feride Özer, a student of political science and public administration, is one of them. Feride Özer, who lives in a refugee camp in the Netherlands, is a young talent forced to leave her country. Feride has been in the Netherlands for nine months, and she recently came to the fore with her support for actions that brought human rights violations to the schedule.

Refugee activist Feride Özer told her story and her dreams to TR724:

“I came from Turkey, and I was a student of political science and public administration back there. I have been living in the Netherlands for about nine months. During the summer of 10th grade, my school Anafen Science High School was shut down by a government decree. My friends and I had to go through a transition period to new schools for weeks. During this period, we visited district national education directorates under the Ministry of National Education. Each of us was given different information during these visits. Officials talked about the fact that they are keeping a tab on us and that we will not be able to work in the future, and that they will probably send us all to the religious vocational high schools, strongholds of Erdogan regime and its doctrines, or that our education life would be completely over. Later, I switched to Anatolian High School. I spent two years there filled with pressure and social isolation. At the end of this period, I came to realize that my chances in Turkey are on thin ice and that I have no future there. So I decided to leave Turkey and come to the Netherlands.

Dutch people always welcomed us warmly and sincerely. For that, I’m forever thankful. Yet I am saddened as there are still many prisoners in Turkey that are not released even when there is a new coronavirus threat in prisons. My former teachers, neighbors, some of my relatives are within this group of imprisoned people. I hope these tough times end in their favor as soon as possible. With the demonstration we organized on March 8, we tried to make the voices of female prisoners in Turkey heard all over the world. If only this were the last protest we had to organize, but so long as the Erdogan government continues the state oppression and social genocide, we will continue to stand up to these persecutions.”

‘SOCIETY NEEDS TO STAND UP TO THE INJUSTICE’

“If our people do not remain silent and stand up to injustice, it will affect the government because governments go in the direction of the people. The rest of society should say no to injustice.”

Feride Özer thinks that she would return to Turkey if and when things get back to normal there: “I’d like to get back to Turkey and work towards a plan to prevent Turkey from going back to such dark times. Public education is essential in this regard. These sorts of tough times keep happening every 30-40 years in Turkey. I will do my best to prevent this from happening again. Finally, the recent bitter news I learned is Ahmet Burhan Atac’s death. Ahmet was a child who was abandoned to a terminal disease before the eyes of everyone in Turkey. Maybe if he had the opportunity to access early treatment or if at least he had his father by his side, his morale would have been higher, and we would not have experienced this pain yesterday. The life of a child is not that cheap. I hope those who caused this death will get what they deserve as soon as possible. A kid who had been barred from going abroad for medical treatment had passed away similarly in the past. This is a challenging period to go through. May Allah give patience to his parents and family. These events should come to an end now.”

Feride Ozer is one of the young and active member of Broken Chalk.

Translated by Broken Team from https://www.tr724.com/bir-multeci-aktivist-feride-ozer/