One fifth of the pupils at Erol Battal Secondary School come from outside of Türkiye. This frames the challenge the school faces in building student unity.

Sheima al-Huseyni is her school’s third best student. Sheima now speaks fluent Turkish. She and her younger brother, Osama, have supported each other since leaving war-torn Syria and benefit from the EU’s PIKTES Project.

EUROPEAN UNION, 2025

“Like Osama, I plan to major in computer engineering.”

The project is designed to help integrate Syrian children into the Turkish education system. Working with the Ministry of National Education, it aims to improve access to education for Syrian children.

Both children have benefited from their teachers, who give extra attention and effort to help them. Osama says big support has also come from their friends who have been helpful and welcoming.

He said: “I’m not sure how my Turkish became so good or improved. When we were in primary school, the teacher sat us at the back of the classroom. Most likely because we are foreigners. Following that, I found a few primary school pals liked me. Then we sat side by side. We started from the ground up, and we made progress. That could be the reason.”

How Sheima and Osama blend in can be seen in the playground where they join groups of children playing basketball and volleyball. Lots of laughter fills the air. When it comes to studying, the pair are more serious.

EUROPEAN UNION, 2025

Big support has come from their friends who have been helpful and welcoming

Smiles in the classroom

Physical education teacher Lütfiye Ercimen says that in lessons the pair’s smiles give way to an almost adult solemnity. It’s like saying, “We don’t have time to waste.” She thinks this is due to their war experience.

School principal Leyla Ünsal says most of the parents are primary or secondary school graduates and work for minimum wage.

She added: “Foreign students make up between 15 to 20 percent of our student body. The fact that our students are foreign nationals and from low socio-economic backgrounds is certainly challenging for teachers. It’s more difficult tobring students from diverse cultures together on common ground than it is in less complex schools.”

Leyla says that being a teacher is not enough. They need to be active in extracurricular activities for students. The staff has risen to the challenge. Turkish lessons are one of the most important activities, she adds, helping build communication skills.

Turkish teacher Çetin Öztürk said: “We saw that our foreign students were unable to express themselves effectively in class. We also saw that they were unable to have the necessary conversation with a group of friends. To help students with these issues, we also try to foster extracurricular dialogues based on Turkish texts, and even make these dialogues funny by acting them out amongst us.”

He added that over time and with the help of their friends, Sheima and Osama discovered a drive to learn. “They began to feel more confident. They became more comfortable expressing themselves. Possibly, they weren’t like this when they first arrived in Türkiye. They can now occasionally participate more actively in class than some Turkish students. They can even make better sentences than them.”

For Sheima and Osama it has not been an easy journey, but the PIKTES Project has helped smooth their way.

High flyers

Now they are thinking of bright futures. Osama wants to be a computer engineer. Sheima, is unsure. She said: “Like Osama, I plan to major in computer engineering.” 

“Or I’ll be a pilot,” says a smiling Sheima, adding: “I guess it’s such a great feeling to soar above the clouds.”

EUROPEAN UNION, 2025

PIKTES Project is helping to bring music into their daily lives.

Music is their favourite subject. Together they sing “Come, come, allow your pain to fade.” The EU PIKTES Project is helping to bring that music into their daily lives, as the effort to adjust continues. 

Their music teacher encourages them to sing with more gusto, saying: “OK, one more time.”