ABSTRACT

The case study about the educational inequalities of rural migrant children in China raises a global problem, which has also brought challenges for the educational system in Turkey during the last decades, and continues to do so. Starting in 1950 as a result of industrialisation and the changes in economic policy pursued by Turkish governments, movement from the countryside to cities has continued increasingly up until now. In 1950, thirty-fi ve per cent of the population lived in cities, whereas this fi gure has now reached 80 per cent (TUIK 2015). The decade between 1980 and 1990 was the period when this change was most rapidly witnessed as the time when the Turkish economy integrated within the global economy. In 1983, the population was also disrupted in urban and rural areas with megacities emerging in important economic centres due to rapid migration. Today, 16 million people live in the largest city, Istanbul – immigrants, illegally or semi-legally, built houses close to industrial plants on the city peripheries (TUIK 2015). These houses turned into residential areas lacking infrastructure. A majority of such areas, called ‘gecekondu’,1 were later legalised. Today a considerable portion of Istanbul’s population live in areas formed in this way (Tekeli 2009: 129).