CHP's Özçağdaş responds to MEB's 'Ramadan' letter to schools with 'ideological engineering' charge: Instead of seeking solutions to problems

Stating that there are dozens of problems in education and that Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin ignores these issues, Özçağdaş said, "The Minister of National Education continues to divide our students, profile them, disrupt the school climate, polarize society, and make insolent statements. Our country is facing, for the first time, a Minister who is so lacking in decorum, arrogant, and incapable of speaking without insults, to the point of calling the opposition 'ignorant, illiterate, and unable to understand'."

"THE MINISTER PREFERS TO ENGAGE IN IDEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING"

Stating that Minister Tekin is not concerned with the problems in schools and that teachers are condemned to live below the poverty line, Özçağdaş noted the following in his statement:

"While our children are dying in vocational training centers (MESEM), going to school hungry, and having to drink water from toilet faucets, the only goal of the mentality trying to divide our students is nothing more than a desire to hold onto their seat. Mr. Minister, your job is not politics; your job is to ensure that our children receive an equal, free, qualified, scientific, and secular education. Every child, teacher, and citizen of our country is left alone with thousands of problems related to education under the Minister's power struggle. Instead of seeking solutions to all these problems, the Minister prefers to engage in ideological engineering through education. Through ÇEDES protocols, sects and religious communities are being brought into schools under the guise of foundations, our little children are being made to cry in tombs and in front of mock graves, and the authority to open dormitories at the middle school level is being expanded to foundations."

"WE KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT WHAT THE LETTER IS INTENDED FOR"

Stating that activities in schools are carried out according to ideological preferences, Özçağdaş noted that Ramadan month activities have become mandatory, and said:

"Political parties are allowed to hold events in schools, our Head Teacher Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is not commemorated, his picture is not put on development reports... Our Constitution has been openly violated for years. It is a distortion of the situation for the Minister to accuse those who defend secularism of being 'the same people who defend Halloween' and to accuse them of being against the month of Ramadan and being faithless. Those who defend secularism are neither against the month of Ramadan nor against the cultural values of society. The issue is not the preservation of the month of Ramadan or social values. It is that Yusuf Tekin and his friends are using our children as tools for their ideological fight. It is that those who remain silent on every issue only emerge when it comes to New Year's or Ramadan.

Our children and youth can fast, pray, go to the mosque, and experience the month of Ramadan freely according to their own wishes and beliefs. Our citizens have been keeping both their faith and their culture alive for centuries without needing the guidance of a Minister, and they will continue to do so. Today, we know that the letter the Ministry sent to schools under the guise of 'voluntariness' is not what it seems. When the matter reaches the point of distributing tracking charts to students in some schools, when it ceases to be voluntary and becomes mandatory, and even turns into a performance show, it means the issue is no longer about freedom of belief or awareness. It is obvious that in a school environment, especially with young age groups, one cannot speak of true voluntariness. In activities carried out within the integrity of the classroom, it is inevitable that children will participate due to peer pressure, teacher guidance, or fear of exclusion.

"PRIORITIZE THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS, NOT YOUR CONCERN FOR YOUR SEAT"

Article 24 of our Constitution guarantees the individuality of religious beliefs and convictions by stating, 'Everyone has the freedom of conscience, religious belief, and conviction.' Furthermore, Article 42 outlines the boundaries of the content of education and training by stating, 'Education and training shall be conducted in accordance with the principles and reforms of Atatürk, based on contemporary scientific and educational principles, and under the supervision and control of the State.' Additionally, Article 12 of the Basic Law of National Education No. 1739 guarantees secular education with the principle, 'Secularism is essential in Turkish national education.' The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child also defines it as a clear obligation for state parties to take the necessary measures to ensure that children or their families are not subjected to discrimination due to their thoughts or beliefs. It is not anyone's place to turn the cultural and spiritual values that our society has kept alive for centuries into political projects, or to try to divide children. No practice in education can be designed in a way that exposes our children to religious or ideological indoctrination. Schools must be neutral, public spaces that stand at an equal distance to all beliefs and where all children feel equal and safe. We say it once again to the Minister of National Education: When making decisions about education, prioritize the needs of the students, not your concern for your position or seat! Work for our children, our parents, our teachers, and our schools, not for your political career!"