Fields of education in Turkey burned down under ‘state of emergency’
ŞAHİN AYBEK
@sahin_aybek
We have now reached the end of the first semester, which was a very busy term passed under great tension and controversies. In order to remember what happened and to be able to shed light for the future, let’s review the past few months.
The failed coup attempt of July 15 in Turkey impacted the education sector the most. Educational fields have literally been put through a ‘state of emergency.’
During the first term of the 2016-2017 academic year,
- Contracted positions for teaching were established and interviews were put in practice;
- 58 textbooks were not distributed as they were considered to be having content related to FETÖ;
- New regulations restricting scientific methods in private courses were adapted;
- Over 40K teachers and staff in educational institutions were either suspended or dismissed;
- Turkey’s ‘project schools’ and other successful educational institutions were targeted and weakened;
- Teachers from shut down private educational institutions were appointed to positions in state institutions without having been required to take the public employees’ entrance exam (KPSS);
- PM Yıldırım announced that pre-school education is going to be mandatory and English as a foreign language will also be mandatory starting from 5th grade.
- PISA results, where Turkey was placed at a low rank, caused debates in Turkey;
- New findings were revealed with regards to leakages of questions and answers for certain institutional exams in the past;
- New regulations defining the ‘qualifications of teachers’ created major arguments;
- And, lastly, Turkey’s Ministry of National Education released its draft curriculum, causing further controversies.
- Several accidents involving school busses and food poisoning at schools, as well as, a devastating deadly fire at a students’ dorm, also shook Turkey.
Now, let’s try going over some of these most significant contemporary issues related to education system in Turkey.
Education under state of emergency
Following the 15 July 2016 coup attempt, state of emergency was declared in Turkey. And, many of the statutory decrees (667, 669, 672, 673, 674, 675, 676) passed in relation to state of emergency are in regards to education system and educational institutions in the country. Under these decrees, a great number of staff members of education ministry has been suspended or dismissed; numerous educational institutions have been either shut down or handed over; many students have been transferred to different schools; regulations on military academies have been redesigned; EU scholarships have been cancelled; permissions for academicians and students who had planned to go abroad were voided and some of those who had already gone abroad were requested to return to Turkey; rector elections have been banned; almost all deans were ordered to resign; and, books published by shut down publishing houses have been taken away from libraries.
Project schools
As it might be remembered, the ‘project school’ method was launched in Turkey in 2014 and over 155 public schools throughout Turkey were turned into pilot schools, where scholastic achievement levels were higher than the average… Under state of emergency, many of these schools were weakened greatly due to suspensions and dismissals of the teachers… Appointments for these schools must be done objectively and based on qualifications of the teachers…
Students of İmam-Hatip schools are unhappy
Secondary education directorate of the Ministry of Education released its observation and evaluation report on the past academic term… One of the most interesting findings of this official report of the State is that students of İmam-Hatip (public schools with an Islam oriented curriculum) schools are less happy compared to students of other public schools, such as schools with a curriculum primarily based on social sciences or natural sciences.
Management teams of schools are politicized
This past term, numerous officials of education sector kept acting and giving statements like politicians. Many professionals of educational fields shared posts on social media where they commented on various political issues ranging from women’s issues to Alevis, Atatürk, and more… Some gave students hanging ropes to promote death penalty and some others declared seculars as bastards and women as sinners…
On the other hand, some other professionals of fields of education continued seeing their posts as a place for sipping on coffee and socializing and as an opportunity to use for their personal promotion…
What’s needed is not a ‘contracted teacher’; it is a ‘qualified teacher’
During the last appointments of teachers in Turkey, a new regulation was put into practice, where teachers were hired on contract. And, these teachers were appointed through interviews. Teachers cannot be contracted; they must be qualified… Furthermore, appointment of teachers through interviews is a wrong method, because, interview means power behind the throne…
Curriculum being ripped off of scientific foundations
Latest debate is on the proposed draft curriculum of the Ministry of Education, which includes neither the evolution theory nor the reforms of Turkey’s founding president Atatürk…
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/egitimde-de-ohal-yasandi-143815.html