Turkey ranks 38th out of 40 in OECD study on education expenditure

Turkey holds a concerning 38th place out of 40 countries in terms of upper secondary education expenditure, a recent study published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found on Wednesday.

The OECD report emphasized that Turkey, alongside Colombia and Mexico, spends less than 5,000 dollars annually per student, a stark contrast to Luxembourg, which allocates nearly 25,000 dollars for each student.

In comparison, the average annual spending per student within the OECD countries stands at 11,400 dollars for general upper secondary education and 13,200 dollars for vocational high schools.

Compulsory primary and secondary education is a norm in many OECD countries, with an average investment of 112,000 dollars per student between the ages of 6 and 15. Notably, Austria, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway exceed an annual investment of 150,000 dollars per student within this age bracket, dwarfing the sub-50,000-dollar budget allocated by countries like Turkey, Colombia, and Romania.

The report underlined that government financing plays a significant role in primary and secondary education within OECD countries. In 2020, the share of private financing in this sector was around 9%, whereas, in Turkey, this percentage surpassed 20%.

The OECD perceives a high school diploma as a minimum requirement for successful integration into the labor market. Among individuals in the 25-34 age group within OECD countries, 14% have not completed high school. In this regard, Turkey, along with Portugal, has been highlighted as one of the two countries successful in reducing the percentage of individuals lacking high school education in this age group.

In 2022, the proportion of individuals without a high school diploma in the 25-34 age group in Turkey decreased to 15%. Furthermore, a significant reduction was observed specifically among women. According to the OECD report, while 52% of women in this age group did not hold a high school diploma in 2015, this figure dropped to 34% in 2022.

The transition from education to employment presented a dismal picture in Turkey, as outlined in the "Education at a Glance 2023" report. The country exhibits a high percentage of individuals in the 18-24 age group who are neither in education nor employment, standing considerably higher than many other OECD countries. While the average rate in OECD countries is around 15%, countries such as Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Turkey, and South Africa witness this percentage soaring to around 25%.

This troubling trend persists in Turkey among the 25-29 age group as well, with an alarmingly high percentage of individuals who, despite having a high school diploma, neither continue their education nor join the workforce, culminating in a total ratio of 33.3%.