Türkiye's Maarif Foundation providing critical support to Turkish students in Belgium

By Selen Temizer

BRUSSELS (AA) - Türkiye's Maarif Foundation is helping Turkish children and their parents overcome the language barrier by studying in Belgium, where three official languages ​​are spoken.

Maarif Foundation, which has been operating for two years in the Flemish-speaking city of Ghent in Belgium, where the Turkish population is densely populated, has also started its operations in the capital Brussels, after the completion of the necessary permit processes.

Many Turkish students studying in Brussels show interest in the foundation's activities.

The foundation provides four main services which are supplementary group lessons and private lessons, language support, extracurricular activities, as well as guidance and psychological counseling, TMF Belgium Representative Zeynep Bilgin Eraslan told Anadolu Agency.

"We create a special, individual program for children in areas where they have difficulties. We focus on it. We are in contact with their teachers," Eraslan said.

"We had a very intelligent student in Ghent. He was directed to a special school for children with mental deficiency because he could not express himself well in the psychological tests in Flemish at school,” she said.

“We intervened and gave the child the necessary education in three months and had transferred him to his old school. This achievement was very important to me. We have supported more than 30 children in similar situations who are in danger of being expelled from school," Eraslan said.

"We attach great importance to Turkish lessons. It is very important for us that all our children speak Turkish," she added.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz