To which schools and students does this regulation apply?
The legal status of the school, not its trade name, is decisive
The presence of 'international', 'international school', 'German', 'French' or another expression in a foreign language in a school's name does not, on its own, show that the institution is legally an international private educational institution. The subject of this article is students who acquire Turkish citizenship during their education at schools operating as international private educational institutions under the Private Educational Institutions Law No. 5580. Foreign private schools, Turkish private schools providing education in a foreign language and institutions linked to embassies cannot be accepted as having the same status. [1] [2]
In the first review, the institution's official name, institution code, permit document, address of operation, stage and the programme permitted to be applied should be requested. The primary school, middle school and high school of the same brand may hold different permits or different institution codes. For this reason, the statement that the student 'will stay on the same campus' does not, by itself, prove that moving between stages is lawful.
The child's own citizenship status is the basis
A parent's acquisition of Turkish citizenship and the child's citizenship are not the same matter. Whether the child was processed together with the family, the position on custody and the necessary consent, the population register entry and the citizenship decision must be examined. Article 20 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 separately regulates the effect on family members of acquisition by a decision of the competent authority. It must not be concluded that the child is a foreigner or a Turkish citizen merely by looking at the parent's identity card. [3]
Whether the child's foreign passport remains valid despite the child's acquisition of Turkish citizenship is also assessed separately. The continuation of a second citizenship does not remove the consequence of Turkish citizenship under education legislation. Making an application with a foreign passport alone does not take the place of the change of status.
Related article: Enrolment in School in Türkiye of Children Holding a Blue Card and Dual Citizen Children.
Why does the date of acquisition of citizenship change the right to education?
The date of the decision and the date of delivery of the identity card must be distinguished
Under Article 20 of Law No. 5901, decisions on the acquisition of Turkish citizenship by a decision of the competent authority take effect from the date of the decision. The later printing or collection of the identity card, or its late entry into the school system, does not, as a rule, move the date of acquisition forward. Determining the educational stage at which the child acquired citizenship must therefore start from the legal basis of the population transaction. [3]
The student's position while an application is pending
Making a citizenship application and the acceptance of the application must not be confused. The family should not assume that the child's status has changed merely because an application has been made; nor should the school process an acquisition that has not yet taken place as if it had. The application document, the decision and the identity record should be kept as separate documents.
Citizenship recorded or notified late
Where Turkish citizenship was acquired by birth but the population notification or the issue of an identity card was made later, this is not the same event as the later acquisition of citizenship during education. In such a file, the manner and date of acquisition of citizenship should be determined with regard also to Article 7 of Law No. 5901. [3]
If there is a time gap between the decision and the school's becoming aware of it, it should be documented who held what information on which date. This chronology matters in assessing the institution's actions and statements. However, the school's late discovery cannot be interpreted as a provision that automatically gives the student a new stage-based right.
How is the education and citizenship chronology prepared?
Attaching a one-page chronology to the application makes it easier for different institutions to examine the same events in the same order. Instead of the bare statement 'studied for two years', the start, completion and source document of each period should be shown.
| Period of education or transaction | The child's citizenship on that date | Record and supporting document | Point to be examined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of first enrolment in the international school | Status at first enrolment | Enrolment document, student file, official system record | Whether the child attended the institution before acquiring citizenship |
| Start and end of each school year | Status in the period concerned; date of change, if any | Grade, programme, institution code and identity number used | The difference between actual attendance and the official record |
| Date Turkish citizenship was acquired | Outcome of the decision concerning the child | Citizenship decision and population register | Manner of acquisition and the educational stage on that date |
| End date of the grade or stage | Status on the end date | Report card, transcript, record of promotion and graduation | Separating the grade attended from the grade successfully completed |
| Date the identity number was updated | The status on which the update was based | Old and new identity details, school correspondence | Whether records remain under different numbers |
| Date of refusal or of removal from the school and of notification | Status on the date of the transaction | Reasoned decision and record of notification | Assessing the time limits for application and action |
This table is not an annex to any legislation; it is a recommended working method for making a file concrete. The date of the contract or the day of payment of fees should not be entered in place of the official record and the successfully completed period of education.
When filling in the table, a separate row should be opened for each school year, and the date information should be taken directly from the supporting document. Information whose date or legal nature cannot yet be verified should be marked 'document awaited'; the parent's statement, the school's explanation and the official record should not be shown with the same degree of certainty. In this way, the allegation that a grade was never recorded at all is visibly distinguished from the case in which a record held under another identity number has not been transferred.
The limits of the right to complete the current stage
The right is not limited to the grade one is in
The criterion in Article 5 of Law No. 5580 is the educational stage. This distinction is decisive in a dispute between the school's approach that 'you must leave at the end of the school year in which you acquired citizenship' and the family's expectation that 'the student may continue at every stage until graduation'. The stage the student is in, and the end of that stage within the programme, must be determined officially. Besides continuing at the same institution, the Law also provides for the possibility of continuing at another international private educational institution applying the same programme. [1]
On a move to another institution, it must be shown that the programme is the same, that the student is continuing the same stage and that the other conditions for enrolment are met. The possibility under the Law cannot be read as a guarantee of enrolment, independent of quota and programme, at every international school.
Why is the move from the eighth grade to the ninth grade different?
In the Turkish education system, the 8th grade is within middle school and the 9th grade is within high school. The right to finish the middle school stage and re-enrolment in the high school section of the same campus are therefore assessed separately. The grade names of a foreign programme are not automatically treated as the same as the grades in the Turkish system; the official equivalent of the programme and of the student's level must first be determined. The examples below assume that this equivalence and the school's lawful status have been established.
| Hypothetical situation | Legal assessment to be made first | Preparation to be made |
|---|---|---|
| The student acquires citizenship while in the 7th grade of middle school | The right to complete the current middle school stage is examined | Enrolment and equivalence documents are prepared for the move after the 8th grade |
| The student has finished middle school and wants to re-enrol for high school | The right to complete the earlier stage does not mean enrolment in high school | High school admission conditions and suitable school options are determined |
| The student acquires citizenship after having lawfully started the high school stage | Completion of the current high school stage in which citizenship was acquired is assessed | Official education and graduation records are followed up to the final grade |
It does not follow from this assessment that 'everyone is given an additional two years when citizenship is acquired'. The period arises from the student's specific stage. In files where a preparatory class, a different education calendar or the end of the stage is disputed, one should not be content with the school's oral explanation; a reasoned assessment should be requested from the provincial directorate of national education.
Did the 2026 regulation remove the rights of current students?
The provision added to Article 7 of Law No. 5580 by Article 18 of Law No. 7590 provides for sanctions in respect of the enrolment of Turkish-citizen students in international schools, the provision of education to these students, and keeping students who acquire citizenship during their education enrolled beyond the statutory period. For the acts concerned, an administrative fine of twenty times the gross minimum wage and cancellation of the institution's permits are provided for. [4]
The application letter of the Ministry of National Education (MEB) of 3 September 2026, for its part, expressly states the statutory exception for completing the current stage. The same letter also explains that providing education without enrolment falls within the application of the sanction. For this reason, a suggestion such as 'we will not make an official record; the child will keep attending lessons' is not a reliable transition plan. [2]
Two errors must be avoided in examining the student's situation: disregarding the right to complete the current stage under the Law because of the new sanction, and producing a right of enrolment beyond the statutory limit by relying on earlier actual attendance. A permit or sanction procedure being carried out against the institution and the question of which grade the child will continue in should be dealt with as separate claims.
Related article: Can Turkish Citizens Study at Foreign Schools? School Types and the 2026 Regulation.
How should e-Okul and MOBİS records be examined when citizenship changes?
A change of identity may have made the education history invisible
By the amendment of 28 July 2026, Article 11 of the Regulation on Pre-school Education and Primary Education Institutions regulates the updating of the e-Okul identity number of children who obtain a T.C. identity number within citizenship admission procedures. [5]
This provision is particularly important for investigating an education history that remains under the former foreign identity number. The spelling of the old and new names, the date of birth, the student number and the previous school code should be queried together. The fact that the family cannot see a record in a query with the new identity does not, on its own, prove that there are no earlier records.
The international school's records are not investigated only through the e-Okul screen
The Regulation on Private Educational Institutions separately defines the International Schools Information System, MOBİS, in which the education, teaching and management transactions of international institutions are carried out. In international schools applying the Turkish programme, provision is also made for MOBİS records as to graduation documents. The records review should therefore be carried out taking into account the system to which the institution is subject and the period in which the education took place. [6]
In practice, three possibilities are distinguished. In the first, there is a record of education and achievement, and only the identity matching is missing. In the second, the school has records, but equivalence or transfer to the new school has not been completed. In the third, there has been actual attendance but no valid student and achievement record has been created. Conducting the record-correction application needed for the first possibility in the same way as the document and legal-status problem in the third delays the solution.
Having a genuine and existing e-Okul record deleted and presenting the student as a person 'with no record at all' is not a solution to these problems. The aim is to bring the education history to light accurately.
How is an application for access to and correction of personal data made?
A deficiency in the student's identity, enrolment and achievement data may also be examined from the standpoint of the protection of personal data. Article 11 of Law No. 6698 regulates the rights to learn whether personal data is processed, to request information about the data processed and to request correction of incomplete or inaccurate data. A request may also be made for the correction to be notified to third persons to whom the data have been transferred. In an application on behalf of the child, custody, guardianship or other authority of representation must be documented. [14]
The request should be addressed to the correct data controller. The private school's own student file and the MEB's central system records are examined separately; the school's correcting its own database does not mean that the e-Okul record is also changed automatically. By stating in the application the old and new identity numbers, the disputed school years, the data that appears wrong and the document confirming it, the following may be asked: what records are held on the student, with which identity they have been matched, to which institutions they have been transferred and how the specific error will be corrected. This method yields a more verifiable answer than a general request to 'correct all my records'.
Under Article 13 of the Law, the application must be concluded as soon as possible according to its nature and within 30 days at the latest. In the event of a refusal, an insufficient answer or no answer within this period, the route of a complaint to the Personal Data Protection Board under Article 14 may be used. The complaint must be made within 30 days from learning of the answer and in any case within 60 days from the date of application to the data controller; the stage of applying to the data controller must be completed before going to the Board. [15] [16]
The data correction route does not take the place of an equivalence, grade promotion or diploma decision. Holding a recorded achievement under the wrong identity and the non-existence of any record of achievement are different problems. Enrolment of the student in a suitable school, any available temporary attendance and the educational procedures required for an examination application should be requested separately. The time limit for an action against an equivalence or enrolment decision should not be regarded as suspended merely because a KVKK application has been made; each application should be pursued according to its own subject and procedure. [7] [11]
What does equivalence achieve on a move to a Turkish school?
Article 11 of the MEB Equivalence Regulation subjects the equivalence procedures of those who acquire Turkish citizenship while attending an international school to the framework of Law No. 5580 and Law No. 222. The same article separately regulates the case in which equivalence is not required for those who have completed the whole of the educational stage in an international institution applying the Turkish programme and weekly course schedule. By contrast, Article 12/2 prevents equivalence from being granted on the basis of documents of private schools or institutions outside the scope of Law No. 5580. The permit and status review of the institution in Türkiye should therefore be carried out from the outset. [7]
In this framework, it is not sufficient to look only at the heading of the paper obtained from the school. It should be investigated from which institution, within which permit and programme, and for which period of education the document was issued. A payment receipt may show that a fee was paid for the education; an attendance sheet may show attendance on particular dates; and a report card and a record of promotion may show the state of achievement. These do not serve the same evidentiary function.
In the application, the courses, periods, promotion status and the stage completed should be made clear. A document merely stating 'he is our student' may not prove that the student successfully completed two grades. If the school has closed or does not issue documents, this should also be stated in the application, and it should be requested that it be investigated which institution holds the records.
An equivalence certificate determines the student's level of education; it does not, on its own, secure a right of enrolment in a particular high school. The application and placement conditions of schools that admit students by examination apply separately. The LGS application and the currency of e-Okul information should be followed according to the official guide for that year. [8]
If there is no education document, can the missing years be completed through level determination?
Temporary attendance and completion of the missing document
Article 4 of the Equivalence Regulation provides for the temporary attendance, on the parent's statement, of a student who arrives during the school year without an education document, and for the documents to be brought within three months. Application of this provision to the specific case should be requested in writing; it should be understood that temporary attendance is not final equivalence or graduation. This possibility is not a method of recognition that removes the document obstacle in Article 12/2. [7]
Not every file with missing records takes the same examination route
The 2026 Equivalence Level Determination e-Examination Guide also covers persons who cannot submit an education document in Türkiye, are of compulsory primary education age and have no e-Okul record. For a student with an old 6th or 7th grade record, it cannot be assumed directly that this condition is met. A reasoned assessment should first be requested on the nature of the record and the applicability of the other application categories. [9]
Article 11.5 of the Guide also contains a route whereby, on the written application of the parent or guardian of candidates who would have to sit the examination for intermediate grades, equivalence may be granted without examination to the 5th and 9th grades. This route does not mean that every student without a record will be admitted directly to high school. Whether the candidate is within the scope, the candidate's age, education status and the other relevant conditions must be assessed. Nor can it be accepted that an obstacle relating to the legal status of the school is removed automatically merely by a level examination. [9]
Why should the examination's grade level and resit rights be learned from the outset?
If the student is within the scope of the STS, the grade level from which he or she will be examined should be learned before the appointment. Article 11.4 of the Guide provides that, in examinations under Article 15 of the Equivalence Regulation, a level one grade below the grade indicated by age, parent's statement and the dates of the identity application is taken as the basis. This is not a general rule of grade demotion applicable to all citizenship and missing-record files. Articles 14.5–14.6 provide for two additional examination rights after the first failure and, if all three rights are used unsuccessfully, an examination from the lower grade, with an interval of at least 15 days for resit examinations. The rights must be used within the relevant school year. If, after an appointment has been made, the student does not sit the examination at all in that school year, the result may be that the student is examined at the lower grade level in the following year. [9]
For the scope of the application, the examination level and the details of the resit calendar, see the article 'School Enrolment and Educational Rights of Foreign Students in Türkiye'. The acquisition of citizenship is not, on its own, a ground for entering this examination route or for the recognition of apparently lost years as a whole.
How should an application to the school and the provincial directorate of national education be framed?
Documents should be gathered in a single education file
The application file should contain the child's current and previous identity details, the record concerning acquisition of citizenship, the custody or guardianship document if required, school enrolment documents, term report cards, transcripts, the graduation or leaving document, information showing the status of the school and earlier correspondence. Documents that cannot yet be obtained should be listed separately, stating from whom and on what date they were requested.
The days the student has been away from education, forthcoming enrolment or examination dates and problems that may arise because of age should be made concrete. Unnecessary private information about the child should not be piled into the application annexes; if there is an expert report connected with an educational need, the part supporting the request concerned should be used.
What can be done about evidence at risk of being lost?
In a dispute with a private school over service or contract, if it can be made concrete that important records will be lost or that raising them later will become seriously difficult unless they are examined immediately, preservation of evidence under Article 400 of the HMK may be considered. The fact to be established, the relevant evidence and the legal interest must be shown clearly. This route serves to preserve existing evidence; it does not of itself decide equivalence of education or a right to compensation. [17] The preservation of school records and promotional statements, the school archive of a closed school and the investigation of the institution's permit are dealt with separately in the article How to Check the MEB Permit and Programme Validity Before Enrolling in a Foreign School.
The request should not consist only of the sentence 'grant equivalence'
Depending on the nature of the dispute, the following requests may be made separately:
- Determination of status and stage: determining the school, programme and educational stage on the date citizenship was acquired; assessing the right to complete the current stage.
- Records review: investigating the school archive, e-Okul and applicable MOBİS records under the old and new identity numbers; correcting clerical errors.
- Data request: directing a request for access to and correction of personal data to the relevant data controller, showing which records and periods it covers; following it separately from requests for education decisions.
- Determination of education: establishing the periods and grades successfully completed, together with their source documents.
- Equivalence or a suitable alternative route: equivalence on the documents submitted; if documents are missing, assessing the applicable temporary attendance or level determination provisions.
- Planning the continuation of education: guiding the student to a school suited to the student's age, level and applicable admission conditions; attending to forthcoming enrolment and examination procedures.
- Reasoned answer: a separate explanation of the factual and legal ground of each request not accepted; notification of the routes of application.
This list is not for copying a standard petition word for word into all files; it is for selecting the right requests. The application should be kept with a document number showing that it was delivered. The electronic results of equivalence procedures should also be followed; the Regulation attaches a notification effect to electronic announcements and results. [7]
A request for a decision on the student's continuing in education should not be lost within a request for information about the investigation of records. It should be written separately to which school or grade attendance is requested, its legal basis and the deadline approaching while the answer is awaited. That the data controller has a 30-day period to answer does not mean that one can wait for the same period for school enrolment or an examination. If the answer to one request does not conclude the other, the open issue should be tracked separately in the file.
The opinion of the Board of Education and Discipline in a file with doubt
The Directive on the Equivalence and Document Verification Branch and Equivalence Centres regulates the duties relating to obtaining the opinion of the Presidency of the Board of Education and Discipline (Talim ve Terbiye Kurulu) on matters not found in the legislation or on which there is doubt about the document. The same Directive provides that equivalence applications are to be concluded within five working days at the latest from the appointment date. [10]
This processing time does not mean that missing documents are completed automatically or that the request is accepted favourably. However, instead of a vague explanation that 'the system does not allow it', it may be asked in writing what deficiency exists and what opinion is awaited. The technical system's not allowing something and the legal non-existence of a right are not the same ground.
What legal routes can be used in the case of a refusal and the risk of losing a school year?
The administrative act and the private school contract must be separated
An act taken by the provincial directorate of national education on equivalence or enrolment and a contractual dispute with a private school over fees and services cannot be accepted as subject to the same judicial route. It must first be determined who took the act objected to and what is being requested. The school's oral explanation is not in every case a refusal decision issued by the equivalence centre.
The general time limit for an administrative action is sixty days before the administrative courts where no special period is prescribed. Article 10 of the İYUK regulates applications that receive no answer, and Article 11 regulates applications for re-examination of an administrative act. An Article 11 application made within time and in accordance with its conditions must not be confused with an ordinary request for information or a complaint. [11]
Objection within three months to an equivalence certificate issued
Article 6/3 of the Equivalence Regulation provides for an objection to the centre that issued the certificate within three months of the issue of the equivalence certificate. The first objection is re-examined by the centre; the second objection is forwarded through the centre to the Presidency of the Board of Education and Discipline. That the Presidency's decision is final in administrative terms does not mean that it is immune from judicial review. [7]
The three months here is not the time limit for bringing an action in every kind of equivalence or record dispute. For instance, in a case where the certificate places the student in a lower grade, requesting re-examination of the certificate and seeking annulment in the administrative courts require separate procedural calculations. The existence of a three-month objection period does not of itself extend the sixty-day period for bringing an action. The suspension of time under Article 11 of the İYUK is assessed only within the conditions of that application; it cannot be assumed that a past time limit for an action begins to run again. [11]
| Act or application | Basic distinction as to time limit |
|---|---|
| Re-examination of an equivalence certificate issued | Objection route of three months from the date of issue under Regulation Article 6/3 |
| Administrative act or unanswered application under the general procedure | As a rule, a sixty-day period for action; for an unanswered application under Article 10, the thirty-day implied rejection rule and the specific date of notification are examined together |
| Application against an STS question or result | Five calendar days for objection and a ten-day period for action not suspended by the objection |
The short time limits in the level determination examination should be followed separately
The 2026 STS Guide specifies five calendar days for objection to an examination question and result and, for the relevant central examination dispute, a ten-day period for action. The Guide explains that an objection does not suspend the time limit for action. A normal equivalence refusal and an application against an STS result should therefore not be run on the same calendar. For the start of the period, publication of the result on the computer in the examination building or on the e-Examination site at the end of the examination is taken as the basis; no separate general announcement should be awaited. [9]
A request for a stay of execution should be supported by a specific educational risk
The filing of an action does not of itself stop the act. For a stay of execution under Article 27 of the İYUK, manifest unlawfulness and loss that is difficult or impossible to make good must be shown together. [11]
In an educational dispute, a forthcoming enrolment date, inability to attend the current grade, inability to sit an examination or the loss of a school year should be explained with dates and documents. In addition, it must be shown which norm the act misapplied and why. The mere statement that 'the child will suffer' does not take the place of an examination of unlawfulness. Ultimately, the request should aim not at an unconditional diploma in place of the administration, but at review of the lawfulness of the specific act.
How are the school's obligations as to fees and documents assessed?
Not every departure after a change of citizenship can be classified as the family's giving up without reason. It must be examined whether the school, knowing the student's status, undertook to continue what is not legally possible, what stage the fee it charged covered and whether it fulfilled its official recording obligations.
Article 56 of the Regulation on Private Educational Institutions contains rules on refund of fees on leaving the school. However, in a file in which a legal or actual deficiency in the institution's service is alleged, it would not be correct to state in advance that only the ordinary deduction on leaving will apply. The nature of the transaction as a consumer transaction, the scope of the contract and the provisions on defective services are assessed separately. [6] [12]
If a refund of fees, additional education costs or another loss is to be claimed, the payment records, promotional promises, correspondence, the reason for leaving and how the loss arose must be documented. It cannot be said that compensation of a fixed amount arises automatically from the loss of a school year. The loss, liability and causal link must be made concrete.
Obtaining the education documents should not be turned into a second matter waiting for the fee dispute to be concluded. It should be put in writing which documents and records are requested from the school; if documents are not issued, a records and archive review should be requested from the provincial directorate of national education. Pursuing the fee dispute and preparing the child's move to the new school should proceed at the same time.
How should the best interests of the child be reflected in the application?
Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child regulates the interests of the child, Article 12 the taking into account of the child's views in accordance with age and maturity, and Article 28 the right to education. These principles do not remove the administration's supervision of schools and education standards; they guide how a solution affecting the child is prepared. [13]
The application should therefore explain not only a wish to remain in the current school but also the level of education, language compatibility, examination preparation, guidance needs and how a move to an alternative school can be carried out. Offering workable options that protect the child's education takes the file out of an abstract discussion of rights. In particular, which courses a student who has studied in the same programme for years has completed and in which areas support is needed should be shown concretely.
Conclusion
Acquiring Turkish citizenship during education in an international school requires the right to complete the current educational stage and the conditions for enrolment in the next stage to be assessed together. Sound legal work first builds the child's citizenship and education chronology; it then examines the school's status, the identity matching, the official education documents and the applicable route of transition.
Requesting only equivalence without establishing the cause of the apparently lost years may prove insufficient. In some files the solution is the merging of records, in others documented equivalence, and in others, where the conditions are met, level determination and suitable placement. An administrative refusal, an examination result and a fee dispute should each be pursued under its own procedure. The priority is to establish the legally recognisable education before time limits are missed and to prevent the child from being cut off from education.
Frequently Asked Questions
Must a student who acquires Turkish citizenship leave the international school immediately?
No; the Law provides for those who acquire citizenship while attending the institution as foreign nationals to complete the current stage. For this right to be applied, the school's status, the date citizenship was acquired and the student's stage on that date must be documented. [1]
Is a move from middle school to high school on the same campus a continuation of the existing enrolment?
The same campus or brand is not sufficient on its own. Middle school and high school are different educational stages. The MEB's statement of 3 September 2026 says that a Turkish-citizen student who has completed the current stage is not allowed to be re-enrolled at the international school for the next stage. [2]
Is a transfer to another international school possible?
The Law also provides for continuing the current stage at another international institution applying the same programme. Programme compatibility and the other enrolment conditions must be examined. A move to a different stage does not become lawful automatically through this possibility of transfer. [1]
Can enrolment be continued with a foreign passport after the citizenship decision?
The validity of a foreign passport does not remove the Turkish citizenship that has been acquired. Transactions must be carried out according to the child's true legal status. The family must notify the citizenship decision, identity details and education status together. [3]
What should be done if the old grades are not visible under the new T.C. identity number?
The records should first be searched using the old foreign identity number, the previous name and the student number. If there is a problem of identity matching and data transfer, correction should be requested. MOBİS and the school archive should also be included in the review, according to the period and programme of the international institution. [5] [6]
Does having paid the school fee prove that the grade was officially completed?
A payment record is important evidence showing the service relationship, but on its own it is not a certificate of grade achievement or graduation. The academic records showing that the grade was completed, and their legal validity, must be investigated separately. [7]
Can equivalence directly to the 9th grade be requested for the lost years?
The route in item 11.5 of the 2026 Guide is assessed by written application for candidates within its scope. It cannot be said that every student who has an old e-Okul record will benefit automatically from this right. The application category and the education history must be made concrete. [9]
Can the child attend school while the equivalence procedure is under way?
There is a provision on the temporary attendance of a student who arrives without documents. An assessment should be requested by a written application explaining the specific conditions; it should be understood that temporary attendance is not a final decision on grade or graduation. The documents should be completed and the application followed up. [7]
Is an administrative fine imposed on the school paid to the family as compensation?
No. An administrative sanction against the institution and the family's claim for a refund of fees or compensation are separate legal matters. For the family's claim, the contract, the state of the service, and the payment and loss documents must be assessed. [4] [12]
Does lodging an objection suspend the time limit for bringing an action in every case?
No. The type of act and the application route used are decisive. In particular, an objection to STS questions and results does not suspend the ten-day period for action specified in the Guide. Before an application is made, a separate calculation of time must be made on the basis of the date of the act and of notification. [9] [11]
Can a KVKK application be made for a missing education record?
It can be learned whether personal data concerning the student is held, and correction of incomplete or inaccurately processed data may be requested. The application is made to the relevant data controller; the school's own file and the record in the MEB system are distinguished. This application aims at the accuracy of existing data; it does not create a grade achievement or diploma that was never earned. [14]
Can school enrolment and court proceedings be pursued before the answer to a data request arrives?
The procedures should be followed together, each within its own conditions. The data controller's period for answering is 30 days at the latest; for a complaint to the Board there are separate limits of 30 and 60 days. These periods do not take the place of the time limits for records, examinations or actions concerning the education procedure. The specific request concerning the child's attendance and the legal application within time should not be left to the result of the data review. [15] [16] [11]
Sources and legal bases
- MEB General Directorate of Private Educational Institutions, provisions of Decree-Law No. 696 concerning private educational institutions, 25 December 2017; historical source of the continuation provision added to Law No. 5580 Article 5/1-a-3. Read together with source 2 for current application.
- MEB General Directorate of Private Educational Institutions, letter on item (ğ) of the second paragraph of Article 7 of Law No. 5580, 3 September 2026, E-16915068-010.99-167785270.
- Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901, Ministry of Justice UYAP Legislation, in particular Articles 3, 5, 7, 20 and 36.
- Law No. 7590, text adopted by the TBMM, 24 July 2026, Article 18; amendment of Law No. 5580 Article 7.
- MEB Regulation on Pre-school Education and Primary Education Institutions, amendment, official school publication, 28 July 2026; amendment Article 6, Regulation Article 11/3.
- MEB Regulation on Private Educational Institutions, legislation publication of the Ministry of Family and Social Services, in particular Articles 4/1-gg, 46/19 and 56; text including the amendments of 5 September 2025.
- MEB Equivalence Regulation, official copy of the Nevşehir Provincial Directorate of National Education, 9 July 2024, RG 32597; in particular Articles 4, 5, 6/3, 11, 12 and 15.
- MEB, Central Examination Application and Implementation Guide for Secondary Education Institutions Admitting Students by Examination 2026. For applications in later years, the guide published for that year applies.
- MEB Board of Education and Discipline, Equivalence Level Determination e-Examination Application and Implementation Guide 2026, in particular 1.1, 11.3–11.5, 14.5–14.6 and 15.1–15.2.
- MEB Directive on the Equivalence and Document Verification Branch and Equivalence Centres, 24 September 2025; in particular Articles 4, 5, 6 and 9.
- Administrative Procedure Law No. 2577, Ministry of Justice UYAP Legislation, in particular Articles 7, 10, 11, 20/B and 27.
- Ministry of Trade, Information on Defective Goods and Services, explanations on services under Law No. 6502.
- UNICEF Türkiye, Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular Articles 3, 12 and 28.
- Personal Data Protection Authority, Rights of the Data Subject, rights of access, information and correction under Article 11 of Law No. 6698.
- Personal Data Protection Authority, Obligation to Respond to Applications Made by Data Subjects, application to the data controller and period for response under Article 13 of Law No. 6698.
- Personal Data Protection Authority, Right to Complain, prior application and complaint periods under Article 14 of Law No. 6698.
- Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100, Ministry of Justice UYAP Legislation, Article 400; cases in which preservation of evidence may be requested and legal interest.