CHP files criminal complaint against Minister of National Education!

CHP Deputy Chairman Suat Özçağdaş, following a sit-in protest he initiated to draw attention to the interview scandal in teacher appointments, filed a criminal complaint today at the Ankara Courthouse against the Minister of National Education.

Speaking to the press in front of the Ankara Courthouse, Suat Özçağdaş stated:

"On behalf of the Republican People's Party, we are here at the Ankara Courthouse together with our deputies and party assembly members. We are concluding the sit-in protest we started last night at 10:00 PM with this criminal complaint we are filing at the courthouse, after having invited the Minister to resign.

In the coming days, we will be with you with much different actions and much different efforts to rectify this injustice regarding the interviews.

Following the publication of the regulation on the amendment of the regulation regarding the employment of contract teachers in the Official Gazette dated May 14, 2024, and numbered 32,546, the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey announced on May 17, 2024, that 20,000 contract teachers would be appointed. A lawsuit was filed at the Council of State by both us and many unions for the cancellation of this regulation amendment, which was also published in the Official Gazette and entered into force, on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The lawsuits filed are still ongoing. According to the announcement made by the Ministry, the oral examination process regarding the employment of contract teachers began on July 2 and was completed on August 10, 2024. However, the Ministry did not announce the results of these interviews for 66 days, citing the lawsuits at the Council of State. Although it was stated that the Council of State's decision was being awaited, a situation arose where these interview results were announced before the Council of State made its final decision. We have just detailed this.

'The interview process has become completely dubious.'

Although we warned the Ministry for months, the result was exactly as we said, and the interviews became a tool for injustice. Within the framework of the relevant legislation, 3 times the number of candidates to be recruited had been invited. That is, 60 thousand contract candidates were invited. Due to the Ministry's non-transparent and contradictory policies, 60 thousand teachers had to wait for when the results would be announced. Contrary to the principle of transparency and legal predictability, which are among the basic principles of the rule of law, the results were announced without waiting for the Council of State's decision. Of course, during this process, for example, some of the candidates could not evaluate other job opportunities. Even though the academic year had started, they could not take up positions in the private sector and various educational institutions and suffered material and moral damages. As of September, another scandal occurred. The results were published on e-Devlet for a short time. But then these results published on e-Devlet were taken down. And the Ministry did not even respond to them for a while. This also reflected to the public as a clear violation of the principle of transparency. This process, along with the failure to announce the rankings, made the interview process completely dubious.

'We are experiencing a completely unreal process.'

Dear members of the press, as of today, there are interview results for 60 thousand people. But these people do not have ranking results. And the Ministry is asking teachers to make their objections and preferences without announcing any rankings. We are experiencing a completely unreal process. And the Ministry persistently does not announce the rankings. Because the announcement of the rankings will lead to the irregularities and injustices committed being clearly seen by the public. Of course, as of the date of this petition, no teacher appointment has been made for 542 days. While 23 thousand 670 teachers retired last year, it is said that 20 thousand teachers will be recruited. One result of this is the injustice done to 20 thousand teacher candidates with the interviews. The other result is that, given that the average class size is 25 and 23 thousand 670 teachers have retired, if we only start from this average, approximately 600 thousand students have been left without teachers for nearly a school semester. Either these teachers are not needed, or these students have been deprived of the necessary education and training."

News Source: 12punto