Secondary School Students Were Made to Work with Dangerous Tools While Cutting Trees in Samsun Ayvacık

In Samsun Ayvacık, secondary school students were given chainsaws and axes to cut down trees in the school garden. After the images taken by a citizen on his mobile phone at Çarşıköy Secondary School in Ayvacık district were submitted to CİMER as a complaint, an investigation was initiated by the Samsun Provincial Directorate of National Education and an inspector was appointed.

Allegedly, the school administration gave students who were supposed to be in class with deadly dangerous tools such as axes, adzes and chainsaws to cut down trees. Citizens who witnessed children being forced to work as workers, disregarding their life safety, reacted to the situation.

'STUDENTS SHOULD BE IN CLASS'

It was stated that the process of cutting the trees into pieces was also done by the students. It was claimed that the cut trees were carried in front of the heating department by 8th grade students. Ahmet Sançar, the grandfather of one of the students, reacted in his statement to his grandson being employed in such a job and said, "A gasoline powered tree cutting engine is a dangerous tool that even adults should use with caution. I do not accept my grandson and other students being employed in such dangerous jobs during school hours. Students should be in the classroom during class hours."

Sançar also pointed out that the school land belonged to him before and that he donated it for the school, and said, "When I went to the school, I saw that a total of 39 pine trees and one linden tree had been cut down. These trees were taken from the Forestry Directorate about 15-16 years ago and were planted by the school administration, headman, teachers and students of the time."

It was claimed that after the video of the students was shot, the issue was transferred to the District Directorate of National Education, but no action was taken against the Çarşıköy Secondary School administration.