Reactions against new regulation on ‘project schools’ grow
Alumni of four high schools – Kadıköy Anadolu; İstanbul Erkek; Vefa; and, Bornova Anadolu – have announced their decision to act in unity, together with the students, parents, and teachers of their former schools, against the government’s new regulation on project schools where teachers with 8 year long service at the same school are now being forced to transfer to another institution.
Since the enforcement of the new regulation this year, students of ‘project high schools’ have demonstrated their objection to ‘the intention of the government to worsen the quality of education’ at their schools. In support of their children, parents have also demanded ‘fair, quality, and secular’ education.
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What are project schools in Turkey?
At the beginning of the 2014-2015 academic year, 155 schools across Turkey with a high success rate was designated as ‘project schools’ as it was included in the widely debated ‘dershane’ (private tutoring centers) law. In the management of these project schools, the authority to appoint teachers and executives is assigned to the Ministry of Education.
The latest adjustment in the regulations with regards to these schools, which was passed last month (September 1), it has been stated that teachers who have completed 8 years of service in these schools were to transfer to another school. These latest developments have caused the students at these schools to react; and, their parents, along with certain civil society groups and politicians, supported the students and tried pointing out that these project schools were actually being ‘targeted.’