A united resistance from universities to high schools
This time, it was high school students who stood up to the palace regime's attempts to reshape schools at will under the guise of the "Project School" scheme. From İstanbul to Elazığ, İzmir to Antalya, and Ankara, high schools turned into spaces of resistance. Meeting with university students as well, high schoolers raised their voices, declaring “Enough is enough.” The wave of dissent, spreading from universities to high schools and reaching all segments of society, has become a continuation of the rebellion that began in response to the 19 March operations. As the walls of fear are being torn down, social opposition is forging its own path through action against the regime.
Politics Service
The latest episode in the palace regime’s dream of raising a “vindictive and pious generation” has unfolded through the cadre appointments under the so-called Project School scheme. Teachers who have stood firm in defence of scientific and secular education and who have so far resisted ideological transformation have been either reassigned to remote regions or completely excluded from the system, prompting high school students to take action.
By opposing the presidential appointments, students made it clear that they would not comply with the government’s agenda. They called for merit-based appointments in defence of their teachers, who are being forced out of their schools. Following the Ministry of National Education’s announcement on April 8 regarding the “2025 Teacher Appointments and Administrator Assignments for Special Programme and Project Schools,” more than 20,000 teachers were removed from their posts and effectively exiled. In response, students, alumni, and parents gathered once again yesterday at school gates in protest.
Starting in major cities like İstanbul, İzmir, and Ankara, the student boycotts quickly spread nationwide from Bursa to Kocaeli, Antalya to Elazığ.
While the İstanbul Governor’s Office issued a statement claiming that “there are no political motives” behind the appointments, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin described the situation as “positive discrimination.” Tekin stated, “We launched the process early so that these colleagues could transfer to vacant positions before the general teacher reassignment period began. This is not a case of victimisation, but rather a form of positive discrimination.”
STUDENTS UNITED: THIS COUNTRY BELONGS TO US
University students from İstanbul University, Boğaziçi University, Galatasaray University, Bilgi University, Yıldız Technical University, and Bahçeşehir University called for solidarity with high school students. The two groups came together in Beşiktaş to voice their opposition.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 38 YEARS
The meeting of university and high school students, who raised their voices against the regime, coincided with the anniversary of the Great Student Gathering on 14 April 1987—the first mass student mobilisation since the 12 September military coup.
Just as students back then rose up against the destruction caused by the coup with a resounding “enough,” today’s youth are standing up in their schools and in the streets to defend the people’s will. They are shouting “enough” against the one-man regime.
As students chanted “Erdoğan without a diploma,” the police responded with loudspeaker warnings: “The slogan you are chanting is illegal.” When students attempted to march towards Kabataş, they were blocked. Due to security concerns, high school students decided to end the protest, while university students stepped in front of the crowd to protect them—a move that drew attention.
High schoolers frequently chanted slogans such as “Berkin Elvan, a sapling at fifteen” and “The decree may be the sultan’s, but the high schools are ours.” CHP İstanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik was also present, negotiating with police to allow the students to march. A university student told Çelik, “Most of those here are high schoolers. We don’t want any intervention, but we also can’t accept the restriction of our right to march.” Çelik replied, “If they don’t let us march here, we’ll march somewhere else.” After a statement was read in the square, the protest was concluded.
Ilgın Öztürk, a student speaking at the event, said: “Today, as high school students, we gathered in Beşiktaş Square. Our demands are very clear. Over the past week, the AKP government has been trying to discredit and degrade the quality of education in high schools by removing our qualified teachers from their positions. These teachers are union members, oppositional, and have always stood by us. We are here to show our support for them.”
MUCH MORE HOPEFUL NOW
A high school student speaking at the rally said: “We know that in the past, it was difficult to take to the streets when something like this happened. But today, that barrier has been broken. Seeing our 13- and 14-year-old friends stand up for their rights and raise their voices fills us with pride. In that sense, we’ve created something new.”
WE WON’T GIVE UP
A student from Kabataş Vocational High School for Commerce added: “Together with our teachers, we made a collective decision. Our first response was to hang a banner at our school. They tore it down. We hung another around the school—it was torn down too. In the end, we, all high school students, took action. They try to scare us with various forms of pressure. But we won’t give up, and we will continue to resist.”
THEIR DEMAND: DEMOCRATIC SCHOOLS
Thousands of teachers have been dismissed. According to the Ministry of National Education’s announcement on April 8 regarding the “2025 Teacher Appointments and Administrator Assignments for Special Programme and Project Schools,” teachers were removed from their posts without consent and declared surplus. This has led to a wave of dismissals in the country’s most established schools.
The high school students, who have been protesting for days, have voiced numerous concrete demands. These demands express a struggle for democratic schools and a rejection of repression and imposition. The students are fighting both to protect the existing structure of their schools and to oppose the government's efforts to transform high schools. Their most prominent demands across the nationwide protests are as follows:
- We demand that appointments to project schools be made according to clear criteria, with fairness and merit in mind.
- We demand an end to arbitrary punitive practices in our schools.
- We demand the protection of our classmates’ fundamental rights and freedoms.
- We demand an end to administrative censorship of student club activities and that these activities be properly supported.
- We demand the preservation of our schools as spaces where students are raised with an awareness of freedom and democracy, in line with the constitution.
Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Üniversiteden liseye topyekûn direniş, published in BirGün newspaper on April 15, 2025.
