Sign showing girls and boys to queue separately at Istanbul school canteen stirs debate

Gülseven Özkan – ISTANBUL

A sign showing boys and girls to line up separately hung in the canteen of an Istanbul school has stirred debate on social media.

The sign was put up in the Cevizli Middle School in Istanbul’s Kartal district after requests by some female students’ parents, according to the school principal. 

“There is a sign that says ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ in the canteen. It was hung so that while female students are buying [things], they do not feel uncomfortable. There is no section or part that segregates students from one another [while standing in the two different queues]. Students can line up and shop from whichever one they want, regardless of the ‘girls’ or ‘boys’ sign. There have been demands from the parents of the female students,” the school principal, Recep Yazıcı, told daily Hürriyet. 

The school’s regulation was shared by many social media users along with a photograph, drawing many criticisms within a short period of time from the users.