A Comparative Analysis of the Compulsory Education Systems in Turkic Republics

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the compulsory education processes in Turkic Republics. The current study is designed as a descriptive study in the survey model. The data of the study were collected from journals, books, relevant written sources and internet sites through the document analysis technique.

In the study, it was found that in general the compulsory education systems in the Turkic Republics are organized at three levels, require the compulsory attendance of students aged at 6-18 years old and last for 11 or 12 years, and there are some differences in their applications.

The first level of the compulsory education is elementary education covering a four-year period in the Turkic Republics investigated in the current study and the general objectives in this first level are to teach how to adapt to the society and life, reading and writing, and the basic skills of mathematics. The second and third levels of the compulsory education have a similar structure in the Turkic Republics, former parts of the Soviet Union, in that first level of the secondary education is five years and the second level of the secondary education is two years in general. On the other hand, in Turkey, each of the first and second levels of the secondary education lasts four years. It was found that in the general secondary education in all the Turkic Republics, it is aimed to give a general science education, to impart the general cultural characteristics of the society to students and to prepare them for higher education.