Scandalous requests from Ministry of Education’s workshop
Scandalous requests were brought forth during the joint workshop of Türkiye Gençlik Vakfı – TÜGVA (Youth Foundation of Turkey), in which Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan is a member of the Advisory Council, and the Ensar Vakfı (Ensar Foundation), which has come to the fore with child sexual abuse.
With the incentive of the Chairman of Religion Education from the Ministry of Education, Nazif Yılmaz, members from TÜGVA and Ensar foundations came together in Tokat for a joint workshop.
According to the reports of Sinan Tartanoğlu of Cumhuriyet newspaper, these were the requests brought forth during the workshop: madrasahs should serve as supporting institutions for the imam hatip high schools (Islamic vocational high schools); values education should be given between ages 0-6 and it must be started for sure at the age of 2; religion education should be provided before elementary school; parents should be supported in encouraging their smart children to attend imam hatip schools and scholarship opportunities should be created in this regard; teachers of elementary level educational institutions should also encourage their successful students to go to imam hatip schools; and students should be monitored and observed outside of school as well, by teachers and imams.
TÜGVA and Ensar Foundations were also involved
The workshop was also attended by President Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan, who is a member of the Advisory Council of TÜGVA, and by members of Ensar Foundation, which is the organization that was recently brought into question after its name was involved in a major child sexual abuse case in Karaman province. Among the attendants, there were also executives of the Eğitim Bir Sen (Union of the Associations of Educators) and İlim Yayma Cemiyeti (Society for Spreading Wisdom), which both give shape to the education policies of the government.
In the report that was released after the workshop, there were requests and suggestions for advancing the quality of religion education.
Following are part of those requests:
Values education for ages 0-6: personality development should be supported with education of parents. Since ages between 0-6 are significant in personality development, values education should be given importance during these ages. Grandparents should also be integrated in this process. Values education must be given to children between ages 2-6 in order to advance children’s readiness and familiarity with religion education.
Religion education before elementary school: Religion education should be provided starting from pre-school level. Koran courses should not be elective; they should be mandatory.
For high schools: Rudimentary religion education courses should be given priority; other courses should be selected afterwards.
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-de