By Ahmet Abdulaziz….
The Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences of the European University of Lefke (EUL) recently organised a conference themed “The Effect of Duration of Compulsory Education on Socio-Economic Outcomes”.
Prof. Doctor Meltem Dayioğlu Tayfur the Academician of Middle East Technical University, attended the conference as a speaker. The conference was attended by a number of academicians and students.
In her speech, Tayfur said that in their study they observed that there are socio-economic effects of changing the duration of compulsory education and added that the schooling rate has increased with the state’s investment expenditure on education and this increase has been seen as an important finding in favour of female students both in urban and rural areas. Tayfur said that while the rate of completing the eight-year compulsory education increased by 30-40% among girls in rural areas, it increased by 10-18% after compulsory education (high school) among boys in urban areas and added that “Although compulsory education had a more significant impact on the enrollment rate of girls, this did not diminish the educational gap between the genders, especially in urban areas”.
She stated that the increase in the duration of education of girls due to compulsory education increased the enrollment rate of boys after compulsory education, leading to an increase in male labour force participation rate compared to women and increased the gender gap. She further continued that “However, the increase in the duration of compulsory education resulted in a decrease in rural-urban differences” and added that this difference in girls decreased to 0.7-0.8 and in boys to 0.5 years.
