A manifesto for an Education Revolution on Teachers' Day

“Wherever there is a cause for development, both material and spiritual, a guide, a teacher is necessary.”

I took the opening sentence of this article from a conversation with Prof. Dr. Bilsay Kuruç, one of the pillars of our economic world. Happy November 24th Teachers' Day. To the soldiers, implementers, and defenders of the Enlightenment Revolutions, to the Teachers of Mustafa Kemal, I send my greetings. 

While teachers were held in high esteem in this society during the early years of the Republic, they were unfortunately impoverished and subjected to character assassination, first slowly and later rapidly, through the maneuvers of the counter-revolution.

If the Cultural Revolution pillar of a revolution remains incomplete, the revolution itself remains incomplete. This is the greatest misfortune that has befallen the Republican Revolution and the Atatürk Enlightenment Revolutions.

With the counter-revolutionary move that began in the 1945s, the Village Institutes were closed.

As an inseparable part of the Marshall Plan, we fell under the influence of imperialism not only in the economy but also in the education system through the Fulbright Agreement.

After the September 12 coup, the education system was shaped according to the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis, in line with the US Green Belt project.

Finally, for the past 22 years under the AKP, we have had an education system that began with the slogan of raising a 'pious and vengeful generation' and has regressed further toward the darkness of the Middle Ages every year. During this last 22-year period, the 'Turkishness' in the Turkish-Islamic synthesis has also been forgotten. By destroying national consciousness, the goal is to collapse the nation-state, and through poverty and ignorance, to create subjects who obey and submit to everything they are told, rather than free individuals who demand their rights.

They first lowered the quality of schools that train teachers, and then the quality and standards of all schools, from primary school to universities. The violence perpetrated against students by unqualified partisans trained as teachers, by imams brought into kindergartens, and by cultist 'healers' has ceased to be isolated incidents and has become almost commonplace. As a result, we have begun to live under the influence of an organized ignorance in every field.

As revealed in the PISA tests conducted among OECD countries, we have an education system that is disconnected from analytical thinking, where students cannot understand what they read, cannot express themselves, and cannot develop problem-solving skills.

Meanwhile, as if the destruction they caused to our human capital through the education system were not enough, they are forcing our well-trained human resources to migrate abroad, and they are disrupting our demographic structure by opening the doors to millions of refugees whose backgrounds we do not know.

This education system has manifested itself as a moral collapse in the social structure and an institutional collapse in the state. Its result in the economy has been a move away from competition and productivity in agriculture, industry, and the service sector. We are still practicing primitive agriculture. The share of high-tech industrial products in exports is only 3 percent.

When we look at the economic success stories of many countries, we see that what Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk did in the field of education during the founding years of the Republic is what various countries implemented in the 1960s and 1980s to achieve great success.

A MANIFESTO FOR EDUCATION

It is impossible to achieve peace in social life and prosperity in the economic field without carrying out a radical education revolution.

Of course, we have nothing to suggest to this government. Decisions and choices belong to political parties and voters. Without falling into the nostalgia of the past, but inspired by the successes of the past and the principles and revolutions of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, we must prepare for a new education revolution.

Let me provide a brief summary of the Manifesto for Education that I proposed in my book 'Factory Settings for the 21st Century / Counter-Revolution in the Economy' and which I also wrote in the Roadmap of the Doğru Party with my colleagues:

 There are five fundamental pillars of structural change and development policies in the economy.

1-     Education.

2-     Planning in every field, especially in agriculture, industry, urbanization, and environmental protection.

3-     An independent Central Bank and monetary policies...

4-     Tax and fiscal policies prioritizing the social state...

5-     Privatization-nationalization-accountability and creating a transparent, participatory structure...

Quality and free education is the duty of the state and the most fundamental right of the citizen. During the initial years of the education and culture revolution, the resources allocated to education should be increased to 10 percent of the national income, and subsequently, it should be two points above the OECD averages.

Our most important economic asset is our young population and human resources. A radical education revolution that is free from rote learning, superstition, and vengefulness, that teaches analytical thinking, provides people with a profession, raises free individuals and conscious citizens, and reinforces national consciousness with its history, language, and geography is a priority. We must be ready in every field for developments in technology, for internalizing and developing technology, for Industry 5.0, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and information-data mining.  In line with these principles, an education curriculum suitable for developments in the world and the economy should be determined jointly with scientists, educators, planners, and economic stakeholders.

Due to the poor quality of the current education system and attempts to impose Arab culture on the Turkish nation, not only those of school age but also several generations before them have grown up as a lost generation. To prevent the collapse of social morality and social conscience, to develop civic consciousness, to provide professions to citizens without them, and to increase productivity in agriculture and industry, a comprehensive culture and education revolution must be initiated for generations that have passed the school age. For this, in addition to the schools of the Ministry of National Education and local governments, projects similar to the 'People's Houses' (Halk Evleri) from the early years of the Republic should be implemented in all settlements, from organized industrial zones to villages and cities.

The teaching profession should be made one of the most attractive professions, as it was in the early years of the Republic. The average teacher's salary (based on seniority) should be equalized to the salary of a member of parliament. (In this proposal, in addition to teacher salaries, the salaries of physicians, judges, and prosecutors will also be equalized to the average salary of a member of parliament based on their own seniority. Of course, it should not be overlooked that screenings should be conducted when teacher and judicial staff need to be retrained.)   

Unnecessary and dysfunctional universities should be closed, and the buildings belonging to these universities should be converted into vocational schools. In addition to curriculum reforms in education, the following basic principles should be implemented.

The state does not give loans to its students; it gives scholarships. Education is free, and non-repayable scholarships should be provided for university-age students.

It is the state's responsibility to ensure that all primary school-age students are fed healthily. In order for students to be fed healthily and to consume sufficient protein, vegetables, and fruits, all students should be provided with free breakfast and lunch.

Since a country's entire telecommunications infrastructure is common public property, mobile and fixed internet services should be provided free of charge to all students and teachersand at a symbolic fee to other segments. Students should be provided with smartphones and tablets either for free or at subsidized prices, depending on available resources. 

All foundation universities opened by cults and sects, as well as private foundation universities that cannot meet academic qualifications, should be closed. The work of academics who have been staffed in state universities and universities belonging to cults and sects with suspicious academic careers should be examined by an independent scientific board, and all academic titles obtained through plagiarism should be announced to the domestic and international public and revoked. All dormitories belonging to sects and cults should be seized, and dormitories with sufficient capacity to meet the accommodation needs of students should be built in all cities with the contribution of local governments, and breakfast and dinner should be provided free of charge.

THE NEW DYNAMIC OF URBANIZATION

We cannot build cities that include production (industry, agriculture, services), art, science, sports, modern urban architecture, green spaces, and social facilities for all ages, from children to retirees, with top-down impositions. The subject is in the area of responsibility of planning and local governments. But the locomotive of this should be the youth. Young people should also take on leadership roles in changing the social life of the provinces and districts where they live, especially in Anatolia, and in local governments. To this end, at least 100,000 high school seniors, 1,000  (one thousand) from each province, should be sent to countries such as European countries, China, Russia, Turkic Republics, Korea, and Japan, to learn a language in the first year and to complete their final year of high school in the second year.

Again, at least 200 high school graduates from each province, a total of 20,000, should be sent to countries such as the USA, European countries, China, Russia, Turkic Republics, Korea, and Japan with full scholarships for university education in the branches they wish. When these students finish their schools and return to the country, they should be employed in their own provinces with a good salary for at least 5 years.

Again, at least 50 students from each province, a total of 5,000, should be sent to countries such as the USA, European countries, China, Russia, and Japan to pursue a doctorate.

A short time after the implementation of this project, thousands of young people who have seen and known the world in all settlements of Anatolia will reach the power to direct the zoning, green spaces, social and art areas (spaces), and the art and social life of those settlements. This structure will also create a gravitational pull for reverse migration from big cities to Anatolia.

WITH GRATITUDE TO OUR TEACHERS...

November 24, 1928, is the day Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk received the title of “Head Teacher of the Nation's Schools” by the Council of Ministers decision published in the Official Gazette. I am a member of a family of teachers spanning two generations.

On the occasion of Teachers' Day, I commemorate with gratitude all the teachers who have contributed to me, as well as my late grandfather, a veteran of the War of Independence, Sait Köyatası, my late father, teacher Rüçhan Köyatası, my late mother, teacher Vedia Köyatası, and my late aunt, teacher Rayegan Köyatası; I wish well-being to my other aunt, teacher Ayten Köyatası Bayrak, and offer my gratitude.

When it comes to the Republic's education initiative, I also commemorate with gratitude the first Ministers of National Education; Vasıf Çınar (1924), Mustafa Necati (1925-29), Reşit Galip (1932-1933), Saffet Arıkan (1935-38), Hasan Ali Yücel (1938-1946), and the most important architect-implementer of the education revolution, General Director of Primary Education İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, known in the education community as 'Tonguç Baba'.