Western Thrace Minority Univers'ty Graduates Association Egnatias 75, 69100 Komotini-Greece Tel/Fax: +302531029705 E-mail: btaytd@otenet.gr URL: www,lotaytd.com Religious Affairs the number of schools of Turkish Minority decreased to 174 by combining schools. However, the combination has been done without taking into consideration the distance among villages in the region and with deficiency in infrastructure. The students of different grades are having lessons in one same classroom. In the last 10 years, the Greek state has taken major steps (such as preparing new text books, educating teachers, supplying additional courses in Greek) by using EU financial sources for improving the curriculum of the Greek language. However, no major step has been taken for the improvement of the Turkish curriculum. Actually, the main problems of these schools are the poor quality of the Turkish curriculum as well as the lack of well trained and qualified teachers for the Turkish instruction. The compulsory education in Greece (including the pre-school education) is 10 years which unfortunately is not applied for the minority schools. The existence of 6 year compulsory education for minority pupils as opposed to 10 year compulsory education for majority is perceived as double standard and seen as application of isolation by the Muslim Turkish Minority of Western Thrace. The number of minority secondary and high schools in Western Thrace is inadequate. There are only 2 minority high schools in the region, one in Komotini, the other in Xanthi. In Komotini, where the Turkish minority constitutes more than half of the population, there is only one Turkish minority high school vis-a-vis 24 state high schools. Likewise, in Xanthi, % 45 of the population of which is of the Turkish minority, there is just one Turkish minority high school vis-a-vis 37 state high schools. Therefore, we call upon the Greek State, In consultation with the Turkish Minority Representatives To prepare an action plan to improve the quality of the education in the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Schools. Ensure the equal opportunity for the instruction of the official language for the minority which is Turkish and the state language, To prepare projects for young females of Minority to continue at least the basic education. 2