Etiquette is just an excuse: They are bringing religious sects into schools

Ercan KÜÇÜK - 12punto.com.tr

The Ministry of National Education (MEB) is continuing its preparations for the new “Etiquette” (Adab-ı muaşeret) course to be taught in high schools. It has been learned that in a recent warning to teachers preparing the textbooks, the Ministry requested the inclusion of the Quran and hadiths in the writing process to ensure students grasp national and spiritual values. Speaking to 12punto, Eğitim-İş Union President Kadem Özbay emphasized that the government wants to impose its Political Islamist ideology on children.

Reminding that etiquette was also taught as a course in schools in the 1960s, Özbay said that one should look at the content of the course rather than its name. Drawing attention to the government's goals of ‘raising a religious generation,’ Özbay stated:

“When we look at the 21-year education report card of the political government, we see that it is distancing education from science and the requirements of the age with each passing day, as well as distancing it from secularism, which is the unchanging principle of the Republic of Turkey and the fundamental pillar of the republic. We see that they want to insert their own defined understanding of a single religion and a single sect into the content of all these courses, and that they are defining political Islam at all levels, starting from preschool.”

Etiquette rules mean rules of conduct, respect, and courtesy. But the content is more important than the name. What we call values are not just those that take the religious references defined by political Islamists themselves; it is about imposing religious principles on children from an early age, in a way that is suitable for the project of raising a generation they have defined themselves, while moving away from universal values and rules of respect.”

'THEY HAVE TURNED THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION INTO A SUB-INSTITUTION OF THE DIYANET'

Özbay stated that the government is bringing religious sects into schools through the ÇEDES project and projects carried out with certain foundations. Özbay said:

“I think one needs to be more concerned with the content than the courses themselves. It is actually a move in the political government's efforts to transform society. When the new Minister of National Education arrived, he said that the most important thing in the Turkish Century would be achieved through education and that education would have a very important place, and we have been looking at all his practices and statements since the day he arrived. ÇEDES projects, TÜGVA, TÜRGEV, IHH—every reactionary structure, every sect and community that has put on the mask of an association or foundation is being brought into schools.

They have practically turned the Ministry of National Education into a sub-institution of the Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs). We see them hosting a cult leader at the Ministry of National Education. Yet, they should be talking to the components of education.

The effort to redesign the content of courses according to religious principles, using political Islamist references they have inserted to transform society, is very clearly contrary to the constitution of the Republic of Turkey and the principles in the basic law of the Ministry of National Education.”

PEDAGOGICAL MURDER

Emphasizing that the Ministry should take into account the developmental stages of children, Özbay also warned about trauma:

“These will cause much greater traumas in the future. Therefore, such impositions at an early age, when children have not yet formed their abstract thinking stage, are also a pedagogical murder. It will also create the ground for serious traumas. For this reason, these should be avoided, and changes to be made in education should definitely be evaluated together with the components of education—unions, faculties of education, and teachers and educators who will practice this in the field—and there should be a pilot application beforehand.

We see that just as they have truly removed science and art from our schools, these reactionary practices are increasing even more. I cannot evaluate the reason for these impositions by the political government from a pedagogical or scientific perspective. Of course, these exist, but there is also an opposition to the Republic. Everything that the Republic has brought or wants to bring is being countered with something completely opposite.

The most important revolution of the Republic is the cultural revolution, and its foundation is education. The Republican perspective makes the following diagnosis regarding the dual or triple education system that has come down from the Ottoman era to the present—that is, madrasas, schools, and minority schools: If a society puts its children through different types of education, fills their heads with different things, and segregates them, they have already segregated the society itself.

All our children should go through the same education at the basic education level, and the foundation of this education should be secular, scientific, democratic, and contemporary, and it should be public and free, along with being compulsory.

SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO MADRASAS

“Currently, our schools have been practically transformed into madrasas. Compulsory religious courses were imposed up to 2 hours after 1980. That wasn't enough; compulsory elective religious courses were introduced.

Opening Imam Hatip schools is very clearly contrary to the unity of education. Whatever the Republic brought, they are trying to achieve a transformation through education, in the exact opposite direction. They are trying to achieve a social transformation. But they could not get the entire society to accept the Imam Hatip imposition. And this time, they are trying to turn other schools into Imam Hatips.

When we add the compulsory elective religious courses, the number of religious courses in schools has surpassed mathematics and Turkish courses. That wasn't enough; how can we bring sects and communities into schools?

The Ministry of National Education has one job, and it cannot even do that; it is constantly subcontracting it to others. What kind of cultural protocol can be signed with IHH? Protocols are constantly being signed with IHH, which has been alleged to have connections with many jihadist organizations abroad.”

CO-EDUCATION IS BEING ENDED IN THE PROVINCES

Özbay also announced that co-education has begun to be ended in schools in the provinces, away from the public eye. Saying, “We now need to protect children from the Ministry of National Education,” Özbay stated:

“Currently, in many places in the provinces, co-education has effectively been ended. Or we unfortunately hear about many practices where girls and boys are segregated there.

We unfortunately hear about the pressures on female teachers. Many people whose background is unclear are brought into our schools under the guise of some project or protocol, supposedly on a voluntary basis, to hold 'chats'.

Unfortunately, our children are being subjected to the imposition of this political Islamist understanding in a very serious way. We need to protect our children from such structures and such institutions in educational environments. At this rate, we now need to protect them from the Ministry of National Education.”

‘WE WILL PURSUE LEGAL PROCESSES’

Kadem Özbay explained the path they will follow regarding the developments as follows:

"What are we doing? We have filed lawsuits against all of these protocols, but the country has reached such a state. The salt has rotted. The Council of State has some decisions regarding these; 'These types of protocols can be made.'

We will evaluate the legal process by examining the course contents. Because we see the contradictions with the constitution. It is very clearly contrary to secularism.

They do not have the authority to do whatever they want to the children of this country. We will pursue our legal process based on all the legal criteria we have identified regarding these. We will, of course, continue our struggle in an organizational sense as well."

News Source: Ercan Küçük