They held 'activities' in the mosque under ÇEDES: Tug-of-war, bowling, clown show...
With the completion of the 2023-2024 academic year, the ÇEDES project, which is frequently criticized by the public, has come to the agenda once again. This time, year-end activities were held in some mosques, featuring clown shows, bowling, and tug-of-war competitions.
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The Ministry of National Education (MEB) had announced that graduation activities would not be held in venues outside of schools and had made such events subject to approval by provincial or district national education directorates.
NO PROM, BUT THERE IS ÇEDES!
However, some year-end activities were held in mosques as part of the ÇEDES Project.
In events held under the name of "Culture Festival" in coordination with provincial national education directorates and in cooperation with provincial mufti offices and provincial youth and sports directorates, activities ranging from clown shows to tug-of-war competitions were carried out.
According to the report by Tarık Işık from Sözcü, Provincial Director of National Education Ertuğrul Tosunoğlu and Provincial Director of Youth and Sports Muzaffer Ergün also attended the event held at the Seyyid Mevlana Sadrettin Efendi Mosque in Giresun. At the beginning of the festival, teachers from Giresun BİLSEM exhibited work related to chemistry, biology, and robotic coding. Inside the mosque, a clown show was performed, children played bowling, and watched a traditional storyteller (meddah) performance.
A "Culture Festival" was organized at the Kalıcı Konutlar Mosque in Bolu with the participation of a total of 53 schools from primary, middle, and high school levels. Various activities, including sack races and tug-of-war, were held. Approximately one hundred students from five schools attended the Culture Festival held at the Çiçekçiler Mosque.
ERDOĞAN HAD DEFENDED IT
President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had said the following regarding ÇEDES at the Turkey Century Education Model Promotion Program held at the Ahmet Keleşoğlu Science High School in Ataşehir, Istanbul:
"Although their voices are not as loud as they used to be, they use every opportunity they find. We witnessed this again in one of our districts in Ankara. You see, inviting our students to the mosque bothered some people. There is no coercion here, no compulsion, no shaming; there is only an invitation based on the principle of voluntariness. Some circles, including journalists, politicians, and unionists, cannot even tolerate this invitation. They are trying to hide fascism with the mask of secularism."