With the start of the new school year in Turkey, the provision of free meals in schools is an important topic of discussion due to persistent child poverty and rising food prices.

How much would this initiative cost the state?

Does Turkey suffer from child poverty?

As an obvious consequence of food inflation, children are malnourished not only at home but also at school and go to class hungry.

• IPA: According to the report “Education Costs of the Economic Crisis” published by the Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA) in October 2023, at least a quarter of all school-age children go to school hungry.
• UNICEF: Data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for 2022 shows that Turkey ranks just ahead of Colombia in terms of child poverty among 39 EU and OECD countries, with a rate of 33.8%. This puts Turkey at the bottom of the rankings, alongside Colombia (35.8%), the United Kingdom (20.7%) and France (19.9%).

The issue of hungry schoolchildren and the distribution of free meals in schools has come back into focus, especially given the rising prices after 2023.

Zoom in: On February 6, 2023, former Minister of National Education Mahmut Ozer announced that all schools in Turkey would begin offering free meals to children in preschool, but due to the earthquake disaster, this initiative was limited to certain regions and students in transport-based classes.

What would be the cost if Turkey introduced a free meal policy?

• The average monthly cost of food for a preschool child aged 4 to 6 is ₺3,244.13, while for a teenager aged 15 to 19 it is ₺5,559.16.
• The average for the age group 7-14 is ₺4,401.64.
• Therefore, the cost per meal is ₺36.05 for the age group 4-6, ₺48.91 for the age group 7-14 and ₺61.77 for the age group 15-19.

School	Age range	Average monthly feed costs (TL)	Cost of 1 meal (TL)
Preschool	4-6	3,244.13	36.05
Primary & Secondary School	7-14	4,401.64	48.91
Secondary school	15-19	5,559.16	61.77

Source: The cost of the meals will be calculated based on the hunger and poverty lines (as of July 2024) determined by the Turkish Trade Union Confederation (TURK-IS) and the United Metalworkers’ Union Class Research Center (BISAM) using data from Ankara and Istanbul.

How many children attended school last school year?

According to the Ministry of National Education (MEB), the number of students in the 2022-2023 school year, including private schools, is as follows:

School	Registration number	Cost of 1 meal (TL)	Total annual food costs (TL)
Preschool	2,055,350	36.05	13,706,079,780
Primary school	5,535,531	48.91	50,084,491,937
Middle School	5,186,943	48.91	46,930,530,216
Secondary school	4,780,201	61.77	54,624,083,152
In total	17,558,025		165,345,185,084

How many days will students go to school this year?

The 2024–2025 school year will begin on 9 September 2024 and end on 20 June 2025. Excluding the 15-day semester break and two one-week holidays, and including official and religious holidays, the total number of school days will be 185.

If each student were provided with just one meal a day throughout the year, the total cost would be Rs 13.7 billion for pre-school, Rs 50 billion for primary school, Rs 46.9 billion for middle school and Rs 54.6 billion for high school, making the total annual cost Rs 165.3 billion.

How high is Türkiye’s national budget?

• In his 2024 budget presentation, Education Minister Yusuf Tekin said the ministry’s budget increased from $16.215 billion in 2023 to $38.294 billion in 2024.

• Since the 2025 budget has not yet been finalised, the provision of free meals in schools would account for approximately 13% of the Ministry’s budget based on the 2024 budget.

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