Backlash against Minister Tekin over teacher appointments: 'They appointed everyone in the Minister's hometown'

The backlash from teachers awaiting appointment continues to grow following the election promise made by President Erdoğan before the 2023 general elections in Turkey, where he stated, "We will abolish interviews in public recruitment." Although Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin said in his latest statement that "It may change according to your interview performance," Turkish Language and Literature teacher İbrahim Ergün, speaking to 12punto, stated, "This is called lawlessness. They appointed everyone in the Minister's hometown of Erzurum; they were generous in his own hometown."

Don't leave your news choices to an algorithm - decide for yourself what you read. Add 12punto to your preferred sources!

Backlash against Minister Tekin over teacher appointments: 'They appointed everyone in the Minister's hometown'

Before the presidential and parliamentary general elections, AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's promise that "We will make public recruitment based on the success ranking of our youth in exams, by abolishing interviews except for the requirements of the position" is still on the agenda of teachers awaiting appointment. Teachers reacted to the latest statement by Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, who said, "I am not giving a guarantee that no one's place will change. It may change according to your interview performance." Turkish Language and Literature teacher İbrahim Ergün, in his statement to 12punto, responded to Minister Tekin by saying, "This is called lawlessness. They appointed everyone in the Minister's hometown of Erzurum; they were generous in his own hometown."

"EVERYONE WAS APPOINTED IN THE MINISTER'S HOMETOWN"

In a special statement to the Türkiye Gazetesi, known for its pro-government editorial policy, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin said, "There is no such thing as injustice between commissions. I am not giving a guarantee that no one's place will change. It may change according to your interview performance." Teacher Ergün, who is awaiting appointment, responded to these words by saying, "There is no such situation. The Ministry calls this the commission's discretionary power, but this is called lawlessness. Furthermore, they appointed everyone in the Minister's hometown of Erzurum. They even appointed people who entered the interview randomly and did not believe they would be appointed themselves. They gave very, very high scores in Erzurum. They were generous in the Minister's own hometown."

"THE PERSONNEL MANAGER SAID 2,200 PEOPLE WERE NOT APPOINTED"

Speaking about Minister Tekin's statement that "As a result of the interview, the ranking of 1,000-plus people out of our candidates—60,000 people took the exam—has changed," Ergün said, "The Minister created a perception here; it is definitely not like that. He used to say 1,100, now he has reduced it to 1,000. However, we reached the information that the number of teachers who were not appointed is 2,200, and the information was given by Personnel Manager Bülent Çiftçi. I spoke with Çiftçi personally. The number of people whose positions changed is also 59,000, contrary to what the Minister announced."

"THERE IS LAWLESSNESS BY THE COMMISSIONS"

In his interview, Minister Tekin said he spoke with teachers who expressed that they were victims of the interview process, stating, "I tell them, 'If there is an injustice done to you, file your complaint immediately, and we will do what is necessary'... They say, 'No, it wasn't done to me, but a friend in another province was given a higher grade.'" However, Ergün explained the stages of his own ranking change as follows:

"I took the KPSS sessions in July-August 2023. My score was announced in August 2023; I got 82 points and my ranking was 773. I saw my appointment as certain. 39,000 people took the exam in the Literature branch. I entered the top 2 percent. The Literature branch took 796 people. We were eliminated because a fair scoring was not done after the interview. After the interview, my ranking became 969; I went back 200 places. There is lawlessness by the commissions here. We were not evaluated fairly out of 100 points before entering the interview. In provinces like Bursa and Kayseri, they did not evaluate out of 100, and regardless of performance, they gave +1, +2 points."

"MINISTER TEKIN DID NOT KEEP HIS WORD, HE CREATED A PERCEPTION"

Emphasizing that the actual struggle process began after the promise to 'abolish the interview' before the 2023 elections, and the subsequent statements by Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, who was appointed by the AKP government that emerged as the first party in the elections, saying, "That is not actually like that. Our President expressed his discomfort with the way interviews are implemented," Ergün said, "We were shocked by the statements. The grievance started here. After our exam scores and rankings were announced, before the appointments were determined, we started a campaign on social media asking, 'Why wasn't the interview abolished?' The number of those who supported us on social media exceeded millions. However, Minister Tekin created a perception. The Minister had said that teachers would be appointed in February 2024. He did not keep this promise either. There was no response to the campaign on social media, and we met with the President, but that did not yield results either," and reiterated their demands by saying, "We are not filing a lawsuit about this issue because we only demand additional appointments. We do not want to drag on in courts for years."

News Source: Beste Çelik