More than half of teachers fighting debt burden in Turkey: Survey

Gamze Kolcu – ANKARA

More than half of Turkey’s teachers are fighting a debt burden, with one quarter doing extra work to make ends meet, according to a survey conducted by the teachers’ union Eğitim-İş. 

Some 25 percent of the teachers are doing extra work and 60 percent of them are not hopeful for the future, the survey revealed. 

According to the survey conducted with 837 teachers in a total of 43 provinces, 36 percent of teachers do not own a house while 32 percent are living in rented houses. Some 36 percent pay housing loans and 21 percent have taken out loans for their children. 

A total of 47 percent of teachers use more than two credit cards and 22 percent are indebted to shopkeepers, 25 percent to other individuals and 52 percent to a bank. The survey also said 52 percent of the teachers have credit card debts. 

Some 30 percent of the teachers can only pay the minimum amount on their credit card debt, while 24 percent have said they make a living amid debts. According to the survey, 32 percent of the teachers receive material help and 61 percent have not gone to the theater in the last year. The number is lower when it comes to the cinema, as 35 percent have not gone in the last year. 

According to the statistics, 70 percent of teachers spend their vacation in their homes or their villages. One of the most striking results of the survey is that 80 percent of them cannot buy a newspaper every day and 62 percent cannot buy a book every month. 

Some 60 percent of the teachers are not hopeful for the future, whereas 64 percent say that they cannot express their thoughts freely. Some 24 percent said they were under political pressure by the management at their school, with 69 percent claiming their managers had been appointed at the behest of the government. 

Moreover, teachers only receive about double the hunger limit in terms of salary for a family of four.