As the 2024-2025 academic year begins, the extent of the economic crisis has shaken the education budgets of families with narrow and fixed incomes, and these families have become almost unable to exercise their right to education.
As of 2024, approximately 5.4 million children in Turkey live below the poverty line, which corresponds to 25 percent of the child population in Turkey. One of the most important problems in education and training in recent years is the problem of nutrition and potable water in schools. It is observed that many students in Turkey go to school without having breakfast, and many students complete the day at school and return home without eating and drinking enough water.
For a long time, right to education defenders organized under the leadership of Veli Der and Eğitim Sen in many provinces have started to intensify their efforts on school food and potable water because ensuring the right to nutrition and potable water, which is a basic requirement for children to grow up healthy, has become a critical education and health issue for the future of children.
In addition, many children face malnutrition and hunger due to poverty. Malnutrition refers to a condition that occurs as a result of an individual's inability to obtain the nutrients they need in sufficient quantities or in a balanced manner. In addition, lack of access to clean and potable water and hunger have negative physical, mental and spiritual effects on children. Studies show that students with inadequate and unbalanced nutrition have shorter attention spans, decreased perception, difficulty in learning and behavioral disorders, prolonged school absenteeism and decreased school success.
As a result of the contraction in our country's economy and labor market, inequalities in income distribution due to restrictions in social policies, poverty, unemployment, high inflation, poor food quality and insecurity, access to healthy and nutritious food has become difficult for many families. Due to high inflation, food prices have increased exponentially in recent years.
There are numerous scientific studies showing that healthy eating habits have a significant impact not only on children's growth and development but also on their school success. Students with inadequate and unbalanced nutrition have shorter attention spans, poorer perception, occasional learning difficulties and behavioral disorders, and may have lower school achievement due to similar reasons. Inadequate nutrition has serious negative effects on the healthy development and learning capacity of children.
Millions of children around the world are deprived of adequate and balanced nutrition, causing deep damage to both their individual lives and the overall well-being of society.
Children who do not get enough nutrition face problems such as attention deficit, fatigue and learning difficulties.
Therefore, every student should be provided with a school meal and enough potable water without delay.