Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin on compulsory education: 'I don't know who is getting this from where'

Minister of National Education Prof. Dr. Yusuf Tekin answered questions about the agenda during a live broadcast on tv100.

Speaking on the claims that 12-year compulsory education will be shortened, Minister Tekin said, "We wanted to discuss this. No formula or proposal has been shared with the public by our ministry. Our main principle is that there should be no grievances caused by the decisions we make. Our young people who are currently of school age should never worry; we will never do anything that would victimize them."

Here are Minister Tekin's statements:

WILL 12-YEAR COMPULSORY EDUCATION BE SHORTENED?

The highlights from Minister Tekin's speech are as follows: "I don't know who is getting this information from where. We have not shared anything regarding this issue from the ministry.

"WE SAID WE WOULD EVALUATE IT IF THERE IS A SOCIAL CONSENSUS"

We only said, 'If there is a social consensus on this issue, we will evaluate this consensus.' Therefore, we announced that we would be happy to see a discussion environment formed on this, just as it was around this time in previous years.

Let us first put the situation regarding education processes in Turkey on the table as the 4+4+4 law was being enacted. At that time, in a period when the despotic environment brought to Turkey by February 28 and the 8-year uninterrupted compulsory education continued, Turkey was discussing 8-year uninterrupted education as a result of the policies of the AK Party governments from the moment they came to power, which had democratization and human rights—meaning fighting against bans and coercion—as their fundamental parameter. And this was the primary starting point when this 4+4+4 application was introduced. In other words, we had to put an end to the monstrosity of 8-year uninterrupted education. Secondly, in a general sense, because Turkey's schooling rates and average education duration statistics were low in global statistics, and because there was an environment in Turkey where there was no equality of opportunity regarding access to education, and those statistics and figures were below international indicators, the Justice and Development Party government prioritized two things that day and divided the 8-year period into 4+4, with the first 4 being based on the logic that a parent can send their child to the school they want, whereas an 8-year uninterrupted education obligation had been imposed. A step was taken to reach a level worthy of Turkey.

In terms of access to information, the curriculum we provide in schools, and the knowledge children acquire outside of school—because we are no longer in the situation of 20 years ago. They are now accessing information faster. 15-16-year-old children abroad complete their high school education and continue to university education.

"WE SAID LET'S DISCUSS IT"

What are we doing? Children will study for 12 years compulsorily and will not be able to go to university before the age of 18-19. These are the kinds of situations that bother us. There are difficulties in sectors requiring skills, in areas we define as qualified, sought-after personnel. Everyone wants to go to academic schools and continue to higher education. When we go to the provinces, many people, especially Chambers of Commerce, Chambers of Industry, and the business world, talk to us about this. When this and similar criticisms came to us, we looked at international indicators and said it could be rearranged. We wanted to discuss this. No formula or proposal has been shared with the public by our ministry.

"CHP CHAIRMAN PULLED THE SUBJECT TO OTHER INTERPRETATIONS"

We said let's discuss this issue, and it was CHP Chairman Özgür Özel who strangely pulled this issue to a different agenda in the public eye. He came out and pulled the subject to other interpretations in a way that I cannot understand how he made that interpretation.

"WE WILL NEVER DO IT"

Our main principle is that there should be no grievances caused by the decisions we make. Our young people who are currently of school age should never worry; we will never do anything that would victimize them, and we have not done so until today. All our decisions are to proceed with formulas that can solve the problem without causing these grievances.

"I NEVER ACCEPT THE REVISIONIST LABEL"

Following any revisionist policy in Turkish political life is something the CHP has brought to Turkish politics; therefore, my President can never have an attempt to settle scores with anyone. Our concern is to create a structure that will make democracy, human rights, and the rule of law dominant in Turkey. If the February 28 environment brought an anti-democratic regulation, if the February 28 process took away people's fundamental rights and freedoms, is returning these rights and freedoms to individuals and eliminating those anti-democratic conditions a revisionist logic or a democratic struggle? This is where we are approaching from right now.

THE ISSUE OF CLOSED VILLAGE SCHOOLS

We send a circular to our Provincial Directorates of National Education and Governorates every year during the summer months. It is also in this year's circular. The essential thing is to keep village schools open. However, in terms of the quality of education and training, and in terms of the environment being suitable for academic competence in a pedagogical sense, it is not right for me to keep a school open with one student, but we wrote in our circular that if the parent wants it, it is essential for us to keep village schools open.

GIRLS' PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION

Currently, Turkey is not below world averages in the education process of girls. Those figures are figures that exist in countries where there are children experiencing difficulties in accessing education all over the world.

"NO FEE CAN BE REQUESTED"

We have 3 levels. Primary-middle school-high school. We are conducting a joint study with the Ministry of Interior. All streets in Turkey are assigned to one of our schools. Whichever school we have assigned your street to, we register your child without you having to do anything. Such being the case, when it is said 'Registration fee is requested,' I ask from whom the registration fee is requested; we are already doing the registration. The school administration has no initiative in this regard. They don't even have accounts. Let's clarify this.

"TEXTBOOKS CANNOT BE SOLD IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS"

I apply the same practice to all private schools. What I am talking about is, let's say, the non-governmental organization to which the schools in the highest group discussed in the public eye in terms of percentage scale in Turkey are affiliated. What we do there is this: We distribute the textbook to you, and so that students who will take the exam do not experience any grievances, we ask our questions from the book we provide, and we want them to receive education according to this book so that no grievances arise. We say that you do not have the right to cause a student to potentially experience a grievance later by exposing them to a book that we have not approved, seen, or known while doing this. We say you cannot sell anything under the name of a textbook in schools; you have to teach our book. Additionally, if you are selling course materials, we have two criteria there as well. First, these books are never textbooks, the course will not be taught from these books, these can be considered as supplementary books. If you are selling these books, we must be able to audit them in terms of exorbitant prices. This is what we do in all private schools.

EXORBITANT PRICES IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS

I agree with this too. Sending children to a private school is not a necessity. We are already registering all our primary and middle school children in school. I respect the parents' desire to send them to a private school.

"PRIVATE SCHOOL IS NOT A NECESSITY"

I am underlining it once again. It is not mandatory to send children to a private school. There are private schools that currently announce fees of less than 100 thousand TL. There are 1,387 private schools between 100 thousand and 200 thousand TL, and 3,067 private schools between 200 thousand and 400 thousand TL. The figures go on like this. The main concentration is between 200 thousand and 400 thousand TL. The number of schools asking for over 1 million TL is 82. In other words, out of a total of 12 thousand private schools, 82 of them are asking for these figures. If you are sending your child to this private school, this is a service contract; you define your expectations for your child, and you say I want to send them to a 2 million TL school instead of a 100 thousand TL one. I respect that. Demanding this is also unfair to the private school."

"WE HAVE TAKEN ALL MEASURES FOR THE INTERVIEW PROCESS"

Speaking about the interviews, Minister Tekin said, "From the day I started, my main principle is that we will not commit injustice or lawlessness. We will not eat anyone's rights. Our President's instruction to us is also in this direction. But this is also a reality. When you entrust your child to me, I want our candidate friends to be recruited through interviews because I care about teaching very much, so that I can see who I am entrusting your child to. We already held the interview for the last time this year; it will not be there next year. I have nothing to discuss with those who say they are categorically against it. But after deciding on this, we have taken all measures for the interview process."

"NO ONE, INCLUDING ME, CAN INTERFERE WITH THE INTERVIEW"

I am uncomfortable with our jury members and professors who participate in our interviews being put under suspicion. No one, including me, can interfere."

"WE WILL DISTRIBUTE BRANCHES IN DECEMBER"

The appointment process for 15 thousand teacher friends with the last KPSS exam plus the interview has finished. We will have made the appointments of our friends as of November 24. There is a branch distribution of our friends who took the exam we call the academy entrance exam. We will also do the branch distribution there within December according to that appointment.