District Directorate of National Education blocks municipal cleaning services in schools: 'Don't clean if you have to'

Problems that began with the Ministry of National Education's (MEB) decision regarding cleaning staff at the start of the school year continue to snowball.

The cleaning crisis in schools has deepened as District Directorates of National Education have blocked cleaning efforts initiated by municipalities taking the initiative. In the Buca and Bornova districts of İzmir, municipalities took action to find solutions to the hygiene problems in schools. However, the District Directorates of National Education did not permit the cleaning.

According to a report by İlayda Sorku from BirGün, Buca Municipality took action following media reports about hygiene issues in schools and began cleaning operations. Mayor Görkem Duman had announced that they were ready to clean all schools and that work would continue in schools where it was needed every day. However, shortly after, Duman announced that these efforts were blocked by the District Directorate of National Education.

'MUNICIPAL TEAMS TURNED AWAY FROM SCHOOL GATES'

In a statement on his social media account, Duman stated that the District Directorate of National Education had banned them from cleaning schools. Duman expressed that schools that had requested cleaning services from the municipality were called one by one and pressured to withdraw their requests, and that municipal teams were turned away from school gates.

In his post, Duman stated, "As of today, unfortunately, we will not be able to carry out cleaning activities in our schools. It is impossible to understand why these initiatives we took to create healthy conditions in education are being blocked. I leave this situation to the conscience of our people."

In Bornova, a similar situation occurred at the Süleyman Demirel Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Naldöken. A serious cleaning problem emerged at the school following renovations completed recently. Parents and students complained about the cleaning problem at the school and reported the issue to the neighborhood headman (muhtar).

Following the complaints, the Naldöken headman applied to Bornova Municipality. The municipality intervened and sent a cleaning team to the school.

'LET IT STAY DIRTY BUT YOU CANNOT FILM'

The municipal cleaning team wanted to film during the cleaning process. However, it was learned that the school administration did not allow the team into the school because they would not permit filming. It was stated that the school administration sent the team away, saying, "Don't clean if you have to, let it stay dirty, but you cannot film."

Stating that the incident at the Süleyman Demirel Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School was an attempt to hide what was happening, Eğitim-Sen İzmir Branch No. 4 President İsmail Akyol said, "The camera issue here is entirely an attempt to cover things up. There have been reports in the press before. The MEB is uncomfortable with this, but there is a reality. They are trying to hide what is happening. Schools are not being cleaned. How long will you be able to hide this?"

On the other hand, noting that children will be constantly inside the school with the arrival of winter, Akyol said: "There is no cleaning staff in many schools. There is a serious personnel problem, especially in schools in areas where the economic situation is not good. This is not something that can be postponed. Blocking the municipality is also a serious problem. When the weather gets cold and the rains start, children will not be able to go outside to the garden at all. There will be serious problems inside, and many diseases will occur due to hygiene problems. 30 thousand personnel is not a solution; the cleaning problem will increase even more in the coming days."