Teacher crisis in project high schools: Appointment statement from the Istanbul Governor's Office!

More than 20,000 teachers have been removed from their positions in "project schools" across Turkey. In many long-established educational institutions such as Kadıköy Anatolian High School and Beşiktaş Atatürk High School, students and alumni have organized protests to support their teachers.

Following these developments, a statement regarding "teacher appointments" came from the Istanbul Governor's Office.

GOVERNOR'S OFFICE DENIED THE ALLEGATIONS

The Governor's Office statement included the following: "In recent days, baseless publications and posts have been made on social media channels and various media outlets regarding changes to the duty stations of teachers in some schools in Istanbul, using expressions such as 'teachers were suspended, tenured teachers were kicked out of their schools, they were victimized, and other teachers were appointed in their place for political reasons'."

The statement continued as follows:

'This statement has been deemed necessary to prevent the confusion that these baseless allegations may create in our society. In this context; not a single teacher has been suspended in Istanbul. The ongoing process is the reassignment and appointment process for some of our teachers whose terms of office have expired in schools implementing special programs and projects affiliated with the Ministry of National Education. The "Regulation on Teacher Appointment and Administrator Assignment" for Educational Institutions Implementing Special Programs and Projects affiliated with the Ministry of National Education entered into force in 2020. The terms of office of teachers working in the relevant schools before this date were reset and restarted. The terms of office of teachers assigned for 4 years starting from 2020 were extended by our Ministry for 1 more year in 2024.

In accordance with the provision in the 'Regulation on Educational Institutions Implementing Special Programs and Projects' published by our Ministry of National Education, it is stated that the terms of office of teachers and administrators working in project schools are at least 4 and at most 8 years. In this context, our teachers whose terms of office have expired were determined and announced by our Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education on February 6-10, 2025. Between February 12 and 19, 2025, all teachers and administrators whose terms of office expired were given the right to choose 10 schools by our Ministry. The placement results were announced on April 8, 2025.

According to these placement results; 8,380 teachers were appointed to Educational Institutions Implementing Special Programs and Projects. There are 1,471 of our teachers who could not be placed in any of their preferences. These teachers have been granted the right to change their place of duty according to the April 2025 norm-excess reassignment calendar, taking their preferences into account.

The reasons why 1,471 teachers were not reassigned for a second 4-year term in our province are based on the narrowing of teacher norms in some educational institutions and the fact that the appointments could not be realized depending on the teachers' preferences. The relevant teachers will be placed in their new schools, within the province and district, in accordance with their preferences and based on the seniority of their service points in educational institutions where there is a need in their branches. Due to this administrative action, there is no victimization regarding the personal rights and career steps of the teachers. For the reasons mentioned above, the teaching staff subject to relocation constitutes approximately 1% of the total current teaching staff in Istanbul and 10% of the teaching staff in our schools implementing Special Projects and Programs. The teachers in question will be able to use their right to apply again during the preference period next year. While the terms of office of the teachers in question in these schools were over 15 years on average, they were limited to a total of 8 years, consisting of 4+4, with the current regulation that entered into force in 2020.

Teachers working in educational institutions implementing Special Programs and Projects also perform duties in matters such as implementing national and international projects, preparing students for scientific, cultural, and technological projects, events, and competitions as consultant teachers, training students in support and training courses, and serving as boarding school supervisors. The issues listed above are among the establishment purposes of these schools. The selection of teachers in line with their preferences was carried out in accordance with this purpose of the relevant regulation.'