
The Turkish Education System was built in accordance with the Atatürk's Reforms after the Turkish War of Independence. It is a state supervised system which was designed to create a skillful manpower for the social and economic process of the country.Turkish system mandates 8 years of primary education between the ages of 6 and 14, and in 2001 enrollment of children in this age range was nearly 100%. For 14-18 year olds three or more years of secondary education are available in public, distance-learning, and vocational high schools. About 95% of students attend public schools, but inadequacies of the public system increasingly motivates middle-class parents to seek private education.In 2001 some 1,273 institutions of higher learning were in operation. Except for the Open Education Faculty (Turkish: Açıköğretim Fakültesi) at Anadolu University, entrance is regulated by a national examination, ÖSS, after which high school graduates are assigned to the limited university space available, according to their performance. Annually, about 1.5 million students graduate from Turkish high schools.In 2002, the total expenditure on education in Turkey amounted to $13.4 billion, including the state budget allocated through the National Ministry of Education and private and international funds.