School in Turkey: twelve years of compulsory schooling, the denklik of your reports and the school year

Can your child go to an ordinary school in Turkey? Yes. A child of foreign parents needs no student visa if a parent has a work permit or a residence permit of at least six months. The finding at the source is in the procedure for recognising school papers, the denklik: until it is done, your child may attend school provisionally, on the basis of a written statement from you about the country, school and class. You then get three months to deliver the reports, and you follow up the final recognition yourself as the parent.

What does the system look like?

Stage	Age	Length	Compulsory
Pre-school (kindergarten classes and day care)	up to 68 months	varies	no, except for special educational needs
Primary school (ilkokul)	6 to 10	4 years, grades 1 to 4	yes
Middle school (ortaokul)	10 to 14	4 years, grades 5 to 8	yes
Upper secondary (lise)	from 14	4 years, grades 9 to 12	yes
School year 2026-2027	first day 14 September 2026	last day 25 June 2027

Since the 2012-2013 school year compulsory schooling has lasted twelve years, in three blocks of four. The 2026-2027 school year starts on Monday 14 September 2026, with a settling-in week from 7 to 11 September for pre-schoolers and first-graders. The mid-year break runs from 25 January to 5 February 2027, and the school year ends on 25 June 2027.

Who may attend a Turkish school?

For enrolling foreign pupils, the regulation for secondary education says the following. In principle a valid passport with a student visa is required. But children of foreigners who are allowed to work and live in Turkey need no student visa; the parents then show that they have a work permit or a residence permit of at least six months. The school's own admission rules apply as well.

If your child enters upper secondary school from abroad, a commission places them at a school. It looks at the admission rules, the denklik and how well the programme fits. If your child has no score from the central exam, they are placed at a school within the area that accepts such pupils.

First the permit, then the school. Without a residence permit of at least six months, or a work permit held by a parent, the school asks for a student visa. Anyone arriving in summer who wants to start in September should not let the permit application slide. How it works is in the residence routes to Turkey.

What is the denklik?

The recognition of foreign school papers. Through the denklik, reports, transcripts, certificates and diplomas from abroad get their Turkish equivalent: which grade your child belongs in. That also applies to papers from international private schools in Turkey.

You apply online via e-Denklik, at a denklik centre in the province where you live. There are 144 such centres in Turkey, at the provincial and some district education directorates. As identification you use, among other things, your residence permit, your work permit or proof of your application. You upload the form and the documents, and show the originals at the centre.

What you need:

• for primary and middle school, the certified report of the last year, a leaving certificate or a diploma;
• for upper secondary, the diploma or proof of completing middle school, or for a grade in between, the reports and transcripts of previous years;
• the pages in your passport with entry and exit stamps, or proof that your child went to school in that country;
• a notarised translation if the centre has no staff member who reads the language; a translation made abroad must be certified by the Turkish consulate.

What do you arrange before you leave?

Ask the Dutch school for a signed and stamped last report and a leaving certificate; for a diploma the centre asks for an apostille. If a report doesn't state that your child moved up to the next grade, the centre asks for separate proof of that; without it, your child is placed at the level the document shows.

Also put the Turkish school year next to the Dutch one. Anyone leaving in July has until mid-September for permit, denklik and enrolment. How that fits into your move is in the route to Turkey.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.5: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Turkey or go straight to step 5.5 in the open plan.