Imposition of mandatory religious courses on students

While the reactionary transformation in the field of education continues through the "I Am Sensitive to My Environment, I Protect My Values" (ÇEDES) project and protocols signed with religious sects and communities, an imposition of elective courses has now begun.

According to a report in BirGün, it has been noted that announcements made by various Provincial Directorates of National Education regarding elective courses, for which the final application deadline is tomorrow, have been limited solely to courses with religious content. The Denizli Provincial Directorate of National Education's social media post for the 2024-2025 academic year announced the elective courses under the title "I Choose My Course, I Learn My Religion."

Religious courses, which are one of the elective courses consisting of three categories in total, were grouped under the headings "The Holy Quran, Life of Our Prophet, Basic Religious Knowledge, Etiquette and Courtesy, and Those Who Shape Our Culture and Civilization." It has been made mandatory for students to choose at least one course from each of the categories. Thus, a religious course was imposed on students under the guise of an elective course.

IMPOSING COURSE SELECTION

Evrim Gülez, a member of the Central Executive Board of the Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim Sen), who reacted to the imposition of religious courses on students, said, "School administrations are pushing students into a mandatory elective course as much as possible. In the prepared categories, one contains physics and mathematics, but the third bag contains courses with religious content. Since the student is forced to choose one elective course from each bag, one of them is necessarily from the religiously referenced courses." Emphasizing that elective courses should be chosen according to students' abilities, interests, and pedagogical needs, Gülez stated that the will of students and parents is being disregarded with this practice.

Pointing out that Provincial Directorates of National Education only share posts about elective courses with religious content, Gülez stated, "Everything is explained to students in a religiously referenced way. These are also shared on the Ministry of National Education's pages. Since the first year the elective course practice was launched, we have been saying that it should not be a mandatory elective course, but a course selection made according to the interests and needs of the students and the approval of the parents."

THE BASIS FOR COMMERCIALIZATION

Gülez finally said: "Do not think that these courses are only chosen by the poor segments of the public and in certain schools. On the contrary, the same system applies in all schools. Furthermore, the education we call religious-reactionary only exists in public schools. There is no such system in private schools. Parents who defend a secular, laic life are forced to enroll their children in private schools. This also forms the underlying basis for the commercialization of education. For children to receive an education that is secular and isolated from religious references, parents are inevitably forced to enroll their children in private schools. A wheel is turning here."

'DEVIL STONING' LESSON IN THE CLASSROOM

It has emerged that students were made to perform 'devil stoning' at a school in Bitlis as part of the "I Am Sensitive to My Environment, I Protect My Values" (ÇEDES) project, which the Ministry of National Education carries out jointly with the Presidency of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. According to a report by Cumhuriyet, a model representing the Kaaba was placed in a classroom at Nurs Secondary School in the Hizan district of Bitlis to 'teach the Hajj pilgrimage' to 7th-grade students. The students, who performed a circumambulation around the model, later practiced 'devil stoning' in the classroom. The students threw stones at the classroom walls as part of the 'devil stoning' rehearsal.