Girl, 13, fights her family to receive education
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Doğan News Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 05, 2009 00:00
DİYARBAKIR-A 13-year-old girl in the Çermik district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır attempted to commit suicide Friday because she was unable to get an education after her stepfather allegedly took her out of school repeatedly to work in the fields.
Meryem Polat’s story is full of obstacles that are larger than her age. When she was 4, her parents divorced.
Then her mother married Ahmet Polat, who already had 15 children from five former marriages. Her stepfather changed her name from Demet to Meryem when getting her first identity card.
Three years ago, her stepfather took her from school and made her work in the fields.
Meryem was sent to school thanks to a campaign organized by the local administration to send children to school.
The local administrators convinced the family to send their daughter to school at least until she graduates from the fifth grade. But she was taken out of school again.
Letter to teacher crying for help
Eager to get an education, Meryem sent a letter to her teacher, Sezen Demirkol, 24, asking for help to go back to school. In her letter Meryem said she wanted to stay in at a state child protection institution instead of staying with her family.
"My dear teacher, please protect me. I want to go to school. If necessary, separate me from my mother for that," the letter read.
"My stepfather swears at me, and he sometimes beats me. But worse than that, he always tells me that I have no right to eat there whenever we eat together. But I have nowhere else to go."
After getting the letter, Demirkol said she was worried because she believed Meryem could be forced to marry at an early age. "She is a promising and clever student, and she has potential to be successful in the future," said Demirkol.
The head of the school sent the letter to the local administrator, Murat Erkan, who filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office.
Gendarmes went to the village, where Meryem was taken by her family and brought back to school.
But she has taken from the school once again by her mother. She attempted to commit suicide by taking medicine in her aunt’s house last Friday.
She was taken to a hospital, and her teacher waited for her to get better. Her mother came to visit Meryem a day later.
Then her mother married Ahmet Polat, who already had 15 children from five former marriages. Her stepfather changed her name from Demet to Meryem when getting her first identity card.
Three years ago, her stepfather took her from school and made her work in the fields.
Meryem was sent to school thanks to a campaign organized by the local administration to send children to school.
The local administrators convinced the family to send their daughter to school at least until she graduates from the fifth grade. But she was taken out of school again.
Letter to teacher crying for help
Eager to get an education, Meryem sent a letter to her teacher, Sezen Demirkol, 24, asking for help to go back to school. In her letter Meryem said she wanted to stay in at a state child protection institution instead of staying with her family.
"My dear teacher, please protect me. I want to go to school. If necessary, separate me from my mother for that," the letter read.
"My stepfather swears at me, and he sometimes beats me. But worse than that, he always tells me that I have no right to eat there whenever we eat together. But I have nowhere else to go."
After getting the letter, Demirkol said she was worried because she believed Meryem could be forced to marry at an early age. "She is a promising and clever student, and she has potential to be successful in the future," said Demirkol.
The head of the school sent the letter to the local administrator, Murat Erkan, who filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office.
Gendarmes went to the village, where Meryem was taken by her family and brought back to school.
But she has taken from the school once again by her mother. She attempted to commit suicide by taking medicine in her aunt’s house last Friday.
She was taken to a hospital, and her teacher waited for her to get better. Her mother came to visit Meryem a day later.