Over 300,000 foreign nationals attend Turkish language courses

ANKARA

More than 300,000 foreign nationals residing in Turkey have been enrolled in Turkish language courses organized by the General Directorate of Lifelong Learning between the beginning of 2018 and Sept. 6, 2019.

Syrians made the vast majority of those 301,456 attending the Turkish for Foreigners courses for age groups 6-12, 13-17 and over 18, according to Education Ministry officials. The courses were designed in three levels.

Over 3.5 million Syrians, who have fled the civil war in their home country, have been living in Turkey as part of a temporary protection program.

Meanwhile, 917,395 Turkish nationals also attended language courses in the same period. Some 770,000 of them were illiterate, 770,000 were women and 110,000 were older than 65 years, ministry data showed.

Nearly 95,000 Turkish language courses, organized as part of the literacy campaign announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Feb. 5, 2018, took place at the public training centers, schools, village community houses, prisons and hospitals.