Eğitim-İş protests permanent daylight saving time

Eğitim-İş protested the fact that students have to go to school in the dark due to the permanent daylight saving time policy, holding a demonstration at sunset today in front of the Ministry of National Education with lanterns in their hands, under the slogan "No to Darkness in Education."

Eğitim-İş members unfurled a banner reading, "No to education in the dark. A child should start the day in daylight, and education should take place in daylight." The members chanted slogans such as "No passage to darkness," "We are the teachers of Mustafa Kemal," and "We do not want education in the dark."

Eğitim-İş Chairman Kadem Özbay stated the following:

"Education should be in daylight; it should start with the breaking of the day and end with its darkening. The AKP, which does not plan education and working hours according to daylight, has condemned the entire country to darkness, especially in the winter season, with the permanent daylight saving time policy it has imposed on our lives since 2016. As a result of the political power stubbornly refusing to adjust the time according to the country's geographical location, ignoring scientific foundations, the lesson hours not planned according to daylight and the unmet need for schools and classrooms, along with the stubbornly maintained permanent daylight saving time policy, negatively affect education and our children. Because of this lack of planning and stubbornness, our children are forced to hit the road before dawn. Forcing our children to go to school in these blind, lightless hours during the years when they most need sleep and daylight for their development also puts parents in a difficult position. Especially in the winter season, efficiency cannot be achieved because children have not yet shaken off their sleepiness during the first lesson hours of the day.

"THEY HAVE ALSO LEFT EDUCATION IN THE DARK"

Due to the insufficiency in the number of schools/classrooms that we have been drawing attention to for years, double-shift education continues in many schools even in metropolitan cities, and a large number of students, enough to fill several schools, are educated in a single school building almost in shifts. Due to the double-shift education absurdity that the AKP promised to end 5 years ago, while one group of students goes to school before dawn, the group that comes to school late can only return home in the evening darkness. Lesson and working hours that are not planned according to daylight also create a security vulnerability. As Eğitim-İş, we call out to the government once again: Immediately abandon the permanent daylight saving time policy, which has no scientific basis, undermines national education and the national economy, and creates a huge security vulnerability in the country. Lesson hours should be adjusted according to daylight, school and classroom needs should be met, and our children should not be condemned to listening to lessons in dark classrooms in the early hours of the morning or returning home in the dark hours of the evening. A child should start the day in daylight, and education should be in daylight. Do not condemn a country that has been pushed into a deep spiritual darkness with wrong economic policies, reactionary moves, and injustices to a concrete darkness as well. Those who condemn our children to education in the dark have also left education in the dark, as can be understood from the minister's confession that protocols are made with sects and religious communities. Although Minister Tekin states their numbers as much lower than they are, there is a clear confession and a clear challenge to the secular republic. The Republic is virtue, the Republic is merit.

"WE WILL NOT REMAIN SPECTATORS TO EDUCATION IN THE DARK OR DARKNESS IN EDUCATION"

Those serving in the institutions of the Republic must inspire confidence with their competence and merit; the institutions of the Republic must be auditable, accountable, and transparent. We ask Minister Tekin: Why are the 2,706 protocols not clearly published on your website? What are you trying to hide? And who are these structures, which we know are many times more numerous than the 10 or so you claim? Let the entire public learn about these religious communities and sects from you as well; we will not remain spectators to education in the dark or darkness in education. We will grow our struggle to protect education and our children. Sects are running rampant in education with the support of the Ministry of National Education and through protocols. The fact that Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin brazenly announced that they would continue the protocols with sects is a sign that the dose of the reactionary siege on education will be increased even further. In this case, it falls upon us, as the Head Teacher's soldiers of education, to save education from this darkness in which it is buried. We will save it.

"AS EĞİTİM-İŞ, WE ARE STARTING OUR ACTION PROCESS WITH THE SLOGAN 'WE DO NOT WANT SECTS AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN OUR SCHOOLS'"

As Eğitim-İş, we are starting our action process with the slogan 'We do not want sects and religious communities in our schools.' Against the de facto occupation in education, we suggest that our parents submit petitions to their schools, stating that they do not accept their children participating in any activity under the name of any protocol or permission without parental consent. If such a situation is created de facto, we suggest they state that they will file a criminal complaint against those responsible. Our teachers and parents can share the negative experiences they have with our union, Eğitim-İş. We will resist the darkness in education with both our organizational power and our legal struggle. We will grow our struggle. We call on all citizens to protect education and our children! We call on all political parties, unions, professional chambers, associations, and parents to protect our present and our future.

"NEXT WEEK, WE WILL ENTER CLASSES WITH OUR COCKADES, AND WE WILL BE IN THE FIELDS BY CALLING ON ALL OUR PARENTS. THROUGH ALL OUR PROVINCIAL ORGANIZATIONS, WE WILL START A FAX OR EMAIL CAMPAIGN TO REMIND THE DEPUTIES OF EACH PROVINCE OF THE CONSTITUTION AND THEIR OATHS"

Come, let us declare together once again that we will forever protect our Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, his revolutions, his legacies, and our Republic. As Eğitim-İş, we will hang banners in all provinces on our union buildings containing the words of our Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: 'Gentlemen and the nation! Know well that the Republic of Turkey cannot be a land of sheikhs, dervishes, disciples, and followers. The truest and most genuine sect is the sect of civilization. Doing what civilization commands and demands is sufficient to be human.' We will continue to shout that schools are the workplaces of teachers and education workers, and that we will never allow them to devalue our profession. Next week, we will enter classes with our cockades, and we will be in the fields by calling on all our parents. Through all our provincial organizations, we will start a fax or email campaign to remind the deputies of each province of the Constitution and their oaths. We will continue to evaluate the process dynamically. We will protect education and our children. We are ready to grow the struggle together with all democratic mass organizations and our citizens. Long live the Republic, long live the Republic, long live the Republic.

"STUDENTS IN SCHOOLS ARE NOT PLACES TO RECRUIT DISCIPLES FOR YOUR SECTS AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES"

Just as we say 'No to education in the dark,' we also say 'No to darkness in education.' Whether you are the Minister of National Education or the President. The Constitution and laws of the Republic of Turkey are very clear. We live in a secular country. You cannot do whatever you want to the children you send to schools. Students in schools are not places to recruit disciples for your sects and religious communities. We will not allow this. We will not allow sects and religious communities to enter our schools. I am calling out to the Minister once again from here. The Republic is virtue, it is merit. Those who sit in the institutions of the Republic must inspire confidence in the public with their merit and competence. It is understood that you are not competent to sit in the seat of the Ministry of National Education. We see that you are openly challenging the revolutions of the Republic and its constitution. While we persistently said in the fields every time that 'Sects and religious communities are running rampant in schools,' the representatives of your political power had said, 'Even crows would laugh at this.' When we said, 'Sects have infiltrated the state,' they had said, 'Even crows would laugh at this.' Now we see that where infiltration is concerned, sects and religious communities have settled into many institutions of the state. Even ministers have become their spokespersons.

"SECTS AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES DO NOT PROTECT THE CHILDREN OF THIS COUNTRY"

Schools are not your places to recruit potential disciples for sects. We will not entrust our children to your sects and religious communities. As Eğitim-İş, we have filed a criminal complaint against Minister Tekin. We will continue to follow the process closely from now on. It is clear who appointed Minister Tekin to that seat today. Everyone knows that the person who will decide whether Minister Tekin leaves or stays in that seat today is the President. The President must protect the Republic, its Constitution, and the Constitution he swore an oath to. I am calling out to the deputies in the TBMM. You all took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution, Atatürk's revolutions, and the Republic of Turkey there. Is this your oath? There is a confession, but there is also a challenge. We will continue to protect the Republic. Sects and religious communities do not protect the children of this country. Did you not learn a lesson from July 15? Did you not close thousands of foundations and associations because they were terrorist organizations? Now that sect is gone, will other sects come? We will not allow this. We will forever protect education, our children, and our republic."