Labor organizations dismantle "tyrannical" educational plan.
Erdogan-led Turkish government promotes conservative and religious nationalism through education. This approach has garnered significant backlash, as evidenced by the education unions' response to the new school plan. Under the AKP regime, students will learn to embrace characteristics like "ethical, wise, compassionate, healthy, productive, and patriotic," the union Egitim-Is claims.
The Turkish Education Minister Yusuf Tekin announced the implementation of this plan in kindergartens, first, fifth, and ninth grades beginning in September. However, Kadem Ozbey from Egitim-Is believes this initiative aims to instill the government's ideology in students.
The theory of evolution has been excluded from the curriculum, and Ataturk's legacy and the birth of the republic receive minimal attention. In response, Egitim-Is has filed a lawsuit against the plan.
Ozbey labels the curriculum as perpetuating a "politically-Islamic, conservative nationalism" ideology. Meanwhile, the union Egitim-Sen calls it "racist, sexist, and anti-nature." Suat Ozcagdas from the opposition CHP shares similar concerns, stating that the plan is favorable to "sects and religious communities," and is characterized as "authoritarian, despotic, and backward-looking."
This conflict over education reveals a critical divide in Turkish society. Secular and conservative segments of the population are pitted against each other, with the latter attempting to promote religion while the former seeks to keep it in the margins.
Even within religious circles, there is concern that the new school plan fails to adequately incorporate both religious and national values. Onder, an umbrella organization representing the Imam-Hatip schools, deems the model deficient in addressing spiritual and ethical aspects. Yet despite its controversies, the increase in Imam-Hatip schools under Erdogan's government shows no signs of slowing.
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Source: www.ntv.de
