One bed for four students!

The Ministry of Youth and Sports budget was discussed at the TBMM Planning and Budget Committee the day before yesterday.

In the 2025 budget presentation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, information was also provided regarding the spiritual counselors assigned to dormitories by the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet).

It is in light of this information that the extent to which our education system is based on science has been revealed!

In the presentation, it was boasted that "within the scope of the protocol signed with the Presidency of Religious Affairs, healthy and reliable guidance services are provided to our youth by spiritual counselors."

It was announced that 618 religious officials have been placed in KYK dormitories. May God be pleased with you all. You have thus solved the students' biggest problem!

The poor quality of education, the lack of equivalence for diplomas in many countries around the world, the financial difficulties of students, the struggle of families to keep up with the costs for their children trying to study out of town, and the students' housing problems are, of course, not issues. If there are students struggling with these, they will be rehabilitated by the "Be grateful!" suggestions of these religious officials...

I am not saying this. The Ministry is saying it... The Ministry of Youth and Sports, which placed 618 religious officials in KYK dormitories, announced that the number of psychologists in the dormitories is 50. In other words, positive science is of no importance; a student who falls into depression will go to a religious official and find relief with a suggestion to be grateful! Just like the effort to save the economy with 'Nas' (religious decree), the student in distress will leave their affairs to God. After all, what can a psychologist do, right?

But the Presidency of Religious Affairs, which makes these appointments, for some reason does not leave things to God. For instance, it did not show gratitude when its budget, which was 91 billion 824 million liras last year, was not enough... That is why its budget was increased by 41 percent in 2024 to 130 billion 119 million.

While the Ministry of Youth and Sports was boasting about the religious officials they placed in dormitories during its 2025 budget presentation, it skipped a small detail. Minister Osman Aşkın Bak announced that there are 862 student dormitories in Turkey with a bed capacity of 993 thousand 720. This shows that there is one bed for approximately every four students studying in higher education institutions. But of course, this is of no importance. There are religious officials in the dormitories.

I have a suggestion for the Ministry of Youth and Sports! Since there is one bed for four students and three students have to rent houses because they cannot be placed in a dormitory... They should assign one religious official to each of these three students left outside. Thus, the children would attain spiritual prosperity.

If we cannot grasp the importance of education, if we cannot provide quality education and raise well-equipped individuals, we can neither solve political problems nor economic problems...

If we spent ten percent of the money we spend on gold-leafed office rooms, saying "prestige cannot be saved on," on education, the cliché that "Germany is jealous of us" could turn into reality. Because the world's superpowers reach this power through educated individuals.

What did Mustafa Kemal Atatürk say: "Our guide in the political and social life of our nation, in the intellectual training of our nation, will be science and technology. Our most important and fruitful tasks are those of national education. It is essential to be victorious in national education affairs. The true salvation of a nation can only be achieved in this way. The greatest war is the war against ignorance."

We will either be victorious with Mustafa Kemal's vision or we will surrender to ignorance.