Education in Turkey is governed by a national system which was established in accordance with the Atatürk Reforms after the Turkish War of Independence. It is a state supervised system designed to produce a skillful professional class for the social and economic institutes of the nation.
Until 1997 children in Turkey were obliged to take five years of education. The reforms 1997 introduced compulsory education for eight years. New legislation introduced in March 2012 prolonged compulsory education to 12 years. Primary and secondary education is financed by the state and free of charge in public schools, between the ages of 6 and 18, and by 2001 enrolment of children in this age range was nearly 100%. Secondary or high school education is mandatory, but required in order to then progress to universities. By 2011 there were 166 universities in Turkey. Except for the Open Education Faculty (Turkish: Açıköğretim Fakültesi) at Anadolu University, entrance is regulated by a national examination, ÖSS, after which high school graduates are assigned to university according to their performance.
In 2002, the total expenditure on education in Turkey amounted to $13.4 billion, including the state budget allocated through the National Ministry of Education and private and international funds.
Read more about Education In Turkey: History, Pre-primary Education, Primary Education, Secondary Education, Universities, Private Schools, Foreign Languages
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