Turkey's education ministry to work with foundation that lost credibility in a pedophilia case
Turkey’s Ministry of National Education has taken a new step and signed a protocol with the Ensar Foundation, an NGO where an instructor was found out last year to have sexually abused many children.
The instructor, whose crime was revealed through a report of BirGün, was arrested and tried within a matter of a month after the revelation of the crimes and sentenced to 508 years in jail in April of 2016.
While the opposition parties CHP and HDP, as well as, several civil society groups and lawyers had found the decision of the court inefficient since the Ensar foundation did not face any charges or legal obligation although the crimes had taken place in their dormitories, the minister of family and social policies of that time had also defended the Ensar foundation by saying ‘it happened only once’.
The most recent protocol of the Ministry of National Education signed with the Ensar Foundation has once again received firm reaction from the opposition since the protocol, which is to be valid for the next 5 academic years, assigns the Foundation roles to work jointly with the Ministry in planning and organization of extracurricular activities in the fields of arts, culture, sports, and sciences.
Reminding on the scandal that the Ensar Foundation is widely remembers for, deputy chair of main opposition CHP, MP Lale Karabıyık, criticized the ministry’s decision and also said it is ‘unacceptable for foundations to be given such broad roles and responsibilities’ in public schools.