Erdoğan defends 'ÇEDES': 'With a mask of secularism...'

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the Turkey Century Education Model Promotion Program held at Ahmet Keleşoğlu Science High School in Ataşehir, Istanbul.

Addressing those who oppose the regulations in the field of education, Erdoğan said, "We will not allow the habits of the old Turkey. I invite those who oppose our education initiative not for pedagogical reasons, but for ideological ones, to question themselves."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the Turkey Century Education Model Promotion Program held at Ahmet Keleşoğlu Science High School in Ataşehir, Istanbul. Addressing those who oppose the regulations in the field of education, Erdoğan said, "We will not allow the habits of the old Turkey. I invite those who oppose our education initiative not for pedagogical reasons, but for ideological ones, to question themselves."

Regarding the Education Model, Erdoğan stated, "Since the course contents are structured with an emphasis on application, students' high-level thinking skills will be developed. Literacy skills, especially digital literacy, will be further advanced. With the Education Model, our Turkish language will be connected to all fields and placed in a central position. The curriculum content has been constructed based on a structure linked to science, technology, and the environment. The ultimate goal of all these efforts is to raise our children as moral, productive, strong-willed, compassionate, patriotic, questioning, competent, and virtuous people in terms of spirit, heart, and body integrity."

Highlights from Erdoğan's statements are as follows:

"I express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to the preparation of our model. When we started our journey to serve Turkey 21 years ago, representing the will of our noble nation, we declared that education would be one of our 4 priorities. We have always remained loyal to this promise until today. Every year, we have allocated the lion's share of the budget to education. This year, we allocated 1 trillion 620 billion liras to education. We are mobilizing all our resources to provide our children with a better, higher quality education that is more suitable for the conditions of the time.

"WE WILL FURTHER STRENGTHEN OUR EDUCATION ARMY"

We have become a large family of 20 million in total, with 19 million students, over 1 million teachers, and over 74 thousand educational institutions. Our family is growing every year. We are the government that has made the most teacher appointments in the history of the Republic. We have reinforced our teaching staff with 800 thousand new appointments we have made. In May 2023, we brought 45 thousand of our teachers together with their students in a single instance. We carried out the largest teacher appointment in our history. We completed the appointment procedures for 4366 disabled teachers. We will further strengthen our education army. The Ministry of National Education is carrying out the process meticulously. We support our teachers not only in terms of appointments but also in terms of personal rights and financial opportunities. We increased the additional indicators of our teachers to 3600."

"IT WILL BE DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT"

We increased education to 12 years with the 4+4+4 system. We created the Vocational Education Policy Document. We have completed the preparations for the law to establish the Teaching Profession and the National Education Academy. Discussions will begin in Parliament soon.

BROUGHT THE HEADSCARF ISSUE TO THE AGENDA

As the world changes, our education system cannot be expected to stand still. We live in an age where new developments happen every day. New ideas, new inventions emerge. Artificial intelligence and unmanned technologies are becoming a part of our daily lives. Individuals who do not renew themselves in the face of the technological revolution are doomed to remain outside the race in the world. We all know very well that education is a living and dynamic process that continues throughout life. What is important here is not to break away from the roots while renewing. The main issue is our vision of civilization. It must be preserved under all conditions.

The path of vocational high schools and imam hatip schools was blocked by the coefficient barrier. The headscarf was banned even in universities and in the public sector. During our terms in power, we fought the toughest battles against this Jacobin, exclusionary, and oppressive mentality. In every step we took towards liberalizing education, we encountered the resistance of certain circles. Some did not want the bans to be lifted in this country, they did not want injustices to be resolved. They did not want the inequality between schools to be closed. They never wanted the children of the people they belittled by calling them "the man who scratches his belly" to have the same opportunities as themselves. They did everything to prevent a real class change from taking place.

DEFENDED ÇEDES

Although they are not as loud as they used to be, they use every opportunity they find. We witnessed this again in a district in Ankara. You see, some people were disturbed by our students being invited to the mosque. There is no coercion here, no imposition, no shaming, there is only an invitation based on voluntariness. Some circles, including journalists, politicians, and unionists, cannot even tolerate this invitation. They are trying to hide fascism with a mask of secularism.

IMAM HATIP STATEMENT

I invite those who oppose our education initiative not for pedagogical reasons, but for ideological ones, to question themselves. I am also a father. All four of my children are graduates of imam hatip schools. Among them, there are those who graduated from Harvard. There are those who graduated from the London School of Economics. So, it is possible. We hope that those who oppose our new model due to their prejudices will act constructively.

NEW EDUCATION MODEL

Since the course contents are structured with an emphasis on application, students' high-level thinking skills will be developed. Literacy skills, especially digital literacy, will be further advanced. With the Education Model, our Turkish language will be connected to all fields and placed in a central position. The curriculum content has been constructed based on a structure linked to science, technology, and the environment. The ultimate goal of all these efforts is to raise our children as moral, productive, strong-willed, compassionate, patriotic, questioning, competent, and virtuous people in terms of spirit, heart, and body integrity.

I wish success in advance to our students who will take the higher education exams tomorrow and on Sunday."

News Source: 12punto