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More than 1.1 million people in Türkiye received “conditional education assistance” so their children could keep attending school, while experts warn that rising absenteeism and child labor make the headline figure misleading, according to DW Turkish.
The government’s 2026 Presidential Annual Program, published in the Official Gazette, shows that 1,115,907 people benefited from conditional education assistance this year, with families receiving a total of ₺216.6 million ($5,16 million).
Under this scheme, paid every two months if a student is not absent more than four days in a month, typical transfers are ₺100 ($2,38) for primary-school girls (₺90 /$2,14 for boys) and ₺150 ($3,57) for high-school girls (₺130 /$3,09 for boys).
Separately, the Social and Economic Support (SED) program run by the Ministry of Family and Social Services—cash assistance for children whose families face deep poverty—covered 178,469 children as of August 2025, up by more than 9,000 year on year. In July, authorities said the monthly SED payment was set at ₺8,198 ($195), while average monthly transfers to foster families reached ₺13,096 ($312).
Last year’s report recorded 1,662,027 recipients of conditional assistance totaling about ₺1.1 billion ($26.19 million) as of August 2024.
Academics and advocates interviewed by DW Turkish argue that the decline in beneficiary numbers should be read alongside attendance and child labor data, not as proof that need has fallen.
Akdeniz University scholar Taner Akpinar calls the program figures a “poverty admission,” noting that many families struggle to cover basic schooling needs like clothing and lunch.
Hacer Foggo, founder of the Deep Poverty Network, says the support must be strictly rights-based and monitored so it does not create dependency. “We rank first in Europe for food inflation,” she says, adding, “How can a single mother keep her child in school with ₺8,000 ($190)?”
Official attendance data cited by DW Turkish indicate 11.6% absenteeism in primary school, 14.8% in middle school, and 27% in high school.
The Ministry of National Education’s latest figures show about 611,612 children out of formal education despite being of compulsory school age.
Foggo points to a 10% rise in child labor over five years, estimating close to 1 million child workers. Akpinar stresses that historical declines—from nearly 3 million child workers in 1994 to 720,000 in 2019—do not make the problem any less urgent and may not capture those who have already left school and thus fall outside assistance schemes.
Advocates argue for a systemic overhaul, including a trained social worker in every school and a unified, rights-based anti-poverty strategy that addresses high living costs and prevents school dropouts.
Without such a framework, they say, piecemeal transfers will not keep children in classrooms or lift families into stable living conditions.
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