ISMET SAHIN and YENER GÜLMEZ SOCIAL SOURCES OF FAILURE IN EDUCATION: THE CASE IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST TURKEY (Accepted 10 May, 1999) ABSTRACT. The efficiency of education in East and Southeast Turkey (E&SE) has long been a subject of debate. Both regions are similar to each other and different from the other regions in terms of economy, culture, ethnic origin, and languages spoken. Sahin (1997) studied the efficiency of education in the E&SE and proposed that illiteracy is significantly the highest in both regions, the female student population is significantly lower, and students are significantly less successful in nationwide general proficiency examinations (OSS and OYS) com- pared to all the other regions. Social sources of failure were studied in terms of the distinguishing characteristics of both regions, from both practical and theoretical standpoints. The findings indicated inequality of educational opportunity rooted in geographical, economical, social (cultural, linguistic), and political factors. KEY WORDS: social sources of failure in education, education in Turkey, education in East and Southeast Turkey, inequality of educational opportunity 1. INTRODUCTION Eastern and Southeastern are two of the seven geographical regions in Turkey. They are associated because of their proximity to each other and their similarity in terms of culture and economy. Separatist terrorist activities, economic decline, unemployment, geographical dispersion are stated to be some aspects of the problems for both regions (Ergil, 1995; Özdag, 1995; RP, 1994; SHP, 1990). The lack of teachers, especially in rural schools, limited budgets, inequality in schooling and the failure of schools in E&SE Anatolia were iden- tified as the educational problems by many authorities and published in the report of the 14th National Education Council in 1993 (NEC, 1993, p. 13). Sahin (1997) states that illiteracy in these regions are the highest compared with other regions, that females are less valued for being given an education and that secondary school students are less successful in nationwide examinations such as “OSS” (student Social Indicators Research 49: 83–113, 2000. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.