Teachers intervene in report cards lacking Atatürk
The absence of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the new "student development reports" distributed to primary school students has been met with backlash in the education community. Refusing to accept this omission, many teachers added Atatürk to the reports using documents they prepared themselves.
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The "student development report" prepared as part of the new evaluation system implemented by the Ministry of National Education for 1st and 2nd-grade students has received a meaningful response from teachers in the field. Teachers who did not find any mention of Atatürk in the official report created their own additional visuals and covers on their own initiative before the reports were distributed.
As reactions grew over the absence of Atatürk in the distributed reports, many teachers did not ignore the situation. Some prepared alternative pages containing photographs and quotes from Atatürk and added them to the documents given to students. Through this method, teachers filled the gap in the report with their own efforts.
Some teachers resorted to a different practice and delivered the development reports to their students in specially prepared covers featuring images of Atatürk. Thus, students were able to see the founder of the Republic on the documents they received, even if only symbolically.
Educators emphasized that official documents given to primary school-aged students are more than just an evaluation tool and contain important symbols. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the inclusion of Atatürk, the architect of the foundations of public education, in these documents is critical for children to integrate with national values. It was also stated that it is inappropriate to provide documents with different content to students at the same grade level.
The Ministry of National Education had defended the practice citing "pedagogical reasons." However, the interventions made by teachers using their own resources showed that this debate has moved beyond the theoretical dimension and has found a direct echo in practice.
On the other hand, there is a growing expectation within the education community that Atatürk, the leader of the National Struggle, will be included in similar reports and documents in the coming years.