Eğitim-Sen: Yusuf Tekin must abandon policies that exploit our children through beliefs

In a press statement organized by the Istanbul Branch of Eğitim-Sen, it was stated: "The directive titled 'Ramadan Month Activities within the Scope of the Century of Turkey Education Model,' issued by the Ministry of National Education on February 12, 2026, and sent to the governorships of 81 provinces, is contrary to the constitutional principle of secularism and the scientific nature of education. This regulation, which covers all levels from preschool to secondary education, aims to turn schools into implementation areas for 'single religion, single sect' rituals." 

"It eliminates the state's neutrality toward beliefs"

The statement, which noted that schools are public spaces where students from different belief groups and students without religious beliefs are educated together, continued: "Presenting the religious practice of the majority as a 'unifying value' is pedagogically problematic. Students with different beliefs will face the risk of exclusion, students who do not fast will encounter peer pressure, the reporting and recording of activities will create a perception of discrimination, sensitivities will arise in boarding schools due to meal arrangements and common living rules, and students will be forced into a direct or indirect choice. This approach, which constructs schools like a place of worship, eliminates the state's neutrality toward beliefs and therefore constitutes a fundamental violation of the constitutional principle of secularism." 

"It forces teachers into illegal work"

Pointing out that the Ramadan activities are planned outside of working hours, the statement said: "These activities are neither within the job descriptions of teachers in laws and regulations, nor are working hours organized in this way. In this respect, the ministry is forcing teachers into illegal work. In this process, which is carried out under the name of 'volunteering,' it is inevitable that students and teachers who do not participate in the activity will be profiled, and students will be subjected to peer bullying and social exclusion.

The statement, which was also supported by the Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Association and Halkevleri, continued as follows: 

"Minister Yusuf Tekin must abandon policies that exploit our children and students through beliefs; he must expand the right to one meal and potable water to all levels, as he previously promised and implemented in kindergartens for a period; all the ministry's resources should be focused on developing policies against educational inequality caused by poverty, and mobilized for free, scientific, and secular education. The minister must grant the right to permanent staff positions and humane working conditions to cleaning staff, whom he employs for wages even below the minimum wage; he must eliminate all kinds of discrimination among teachers, especially regarding contract teaching; he should not leave our young colleagues struggling in academies and interviews for approximately 30 thousand liras; he must put an end to employing teachers at minimum wage in private schools; and he must transform MESEMs, which send poor children to the capital-seeking industry as workers, into real educational institutions that see them as students again.

We invite the Ministry of National Education to immediately abandon this method of 'creating a fait accompli,' which is clearly contrary to the Constitution and the Basic Law of National Education; and to put an end to all practices that are contrary to secular, scientific, and public education."

News Source: 12punto