Kadem Özbay evaluates the new curriculum for 12punto: 'Atatürk and the Republic are missing from the new curriculum!'

Ayhan TAŞPINARLIOĞLU - 12punto.com.tr

The Ministry of National Education has opened the new curriculum draft, titled "Turkey Century Education Model", which covers compulsory courses at all grade levels, for public opinion at "https://gorusoneri.meb.gov.tr".

According to the statement made by the Ministry, feedback on the new curriculum draft can be submitted via the website for a period of one week.

12punto asked Kadem Özbay, Chairman of the Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-İş), about the new curriculum.

"WHERE IS THE EVALUATION REPORT FOR THE CURRENT PROGRAM?"

He gave the following response to the question, "What do you think about the new curriculum?":

"First of all, it must be said that the Ministry of National Education and the political power must explain this; this is the 4th radical curriculum change and the dozens of system changes made during their tenure. You have been in power for 22 years. Where is your evaluation report for the current program? Evaluate the past and share it with the public. Secondly, there is no needs analysis. There is no review or evaluation of global programs. We see that there is no pilot implementation, testing, or evaluation study for this."

"THIS IS A PARTY PROGRAM"

"We must see this; we are trying to discuss the product of an approach that ignores science. Can a contemporary education program be expected from an approach that calls religious communities and sects 'NGOs'? This is a party program. Because the AKP said 'Turkey Century', and the Ministry of National Education said 'Turkey Century Education Model'."

"THERE IS NO REPUBLIC AND NO ATATÜRK"

"What is missing here is the Republic. We can understand from the words in the text that this education program does not aim to raise a generation that is free in thought, free in conscience, and free in wisdom, as the Republic intended."

"There is no Republic; we see that the term 'maarif' (education) is preferred instead of 'eğitim öğretim'. When we look at the content, the language used clearly reveals what the political power aims for and what kind of generation it wants to raise."

"In the text, we see that 'science' is mentioned 43 times, 'morality' 61 times, 'virtue' 46 times, and 'values' more than 400 times."

"So, the Minister of National Education looked at the previous curricula after 22 years. He found morality and virtue lacking. He wanted to add these. There is not a single mention of Atatürk or the Republic in the text. It seems as if it was taken from a dictionary of theological terms, with emphasis on words like 'tekamül' (evolution/perfection), raising a 'kamil insan' (perfect human), 'belagat' (eloquence), and 'ilim' (knowledge)."

"This clearly shows that they aim to raise a generation according to their own ideology."

"AS IF THEY ARE GOING TO RAISE DISCIPLES IN A DERVISH LODGE"

Özbay added the following, saying, "We must also look at this inconsistency:"

"Those who talk about healthy nutrition did not provide a single meal in schools. Those who talk about regular sleep condemned students to education in the dark. It is not possible to say that this is a text evaluated in a universal sense just by looking at some fancy words. That would be illogical."

"When we look at the common text, it looks as if they are going to raise disciples in a dervish lodge. It stands out as a text that aims to raise a 'mürid' (disciple) rather than a contemporary, free individual."

"ALL EDUCATION STAKEHOLDERS MUST BE INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS"

Özbay finally said:

"When changing the constitution of education, there must be past analyses, and all education stakeholders must be involved in the process. The opinion of the Eğitim-İş Union, one of Turkey's largest unions, has not been sought at all so far. Who did you work with, what did you base the process on, how have you carried out these studies so far, and how did you plan it?"

"You put it up for review for one week. The citizen is expected to look, find, and correct it. This is mocking people's intelligence."