İYİ Party, HEDEP, and CHP's group proposals regarding the agenda were rejected

In the General Assembly, following speeches outside the agenda and evaluations by group deputy chairmen, the session moved on to the political parties' proposals regarding the agenda.

MOTIONS WERE DISCUSSED

The proposals to include the Saadet Party's "Problems experienced by teachers," the İYİ Party's "Teacher appointments," HEDEP's "Violence against women," and the CHP's "Tahir Elçi" motions on the agenda were discussed.

Speaking on his party's proposal, İYİ Party Ankara Deputy Kürşad Zorlu stated that while Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk described teachers as "commanders of the army of enlightenment," today in Turkey, one is faced with definitions such as "unappointed teacher," "contract teacher," and "teacher struggling to make a living."

"TEACHERS WAITING FOR APPOINTMENT"

Stating that there are nearly 1 million teachers waiting for appointment in Turkey, Zorlu said, "The 2024 teacher appointment calendar has not even been determined or announced. While there are nearly a million teachers waiting for appointment, we are making a call from here; we were the first political party to make this call even before the elections. In the 100th year of our Republic, let us immediately appoint 100 thousand teachers in a way worthy of this centennial and abolish the interview process."

Saadet Party Group Deputy Chairman İsa Mesih Şahin reminded that the government had promised before the elections to abolish interviews for public personnel recruitment and said they wanted this promise to be kept. Stating that they object to the nepotistic system and that a system where the deserving win should be established, Şahin said, "If you remove the 70-point threshold and hire judges with 55 points, if you put a 5-file folder in front of people who cannot solve 5 paragraphs and say 'solve this,' you will clog the justice system and all systems. We only want justice; we want you to keep your word and for a fair, equitable, and merit-based system to be established."

Speaking on behalf of the HEDEP Group, Şırnak Deputy Mehmet Zeki İrmez said that he was a teacher who was dismissed from public service by a decree-law (KHK). Explaining that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had promised that "interviews would be abolished," İrmez said, "The Minister of National Education says 'interviews have not been abolished.' To put it mildly, he is making Erdoğan look ineffective. Now, who should we believe, who should we trust?"

"THE TEACHING PROFESSION LAW, WHICH HAS BEEN WAITING FOR 60 YEARS, WAS IMPLEMENTED"

CHP Kocaeli Deputy Muhip Kanko said that while the rate of increase in the number of teachers remained at 24 percent during the AK Party government, the rate of increase in the number of security forces reached 88 percent. Explaining that 52 percent of teachers have credit card debt, 22 percent owe money to tradesmen, and 25 percent owe money to individuals, Kanko stated that 25 percent of teachers who have to live on debt work extra jobs.

Criticizing the categorization of teachers as head teachers and expert teachers, Kanko said, "First of all, teachers want at least one meal of healthy nutrition to be provided for their students. Teachers complain about the low wages for extracurricular work, especially in İYEP (Intensive Training Program for Primary School Students) and study sessions; they complain about overcrowded classrooms and administrators who are unqualified and lack merit, appointed only because they are members of unions close to the government."

THE LAW HAS BEEN WAITING FOR 60 YEARS

AK Party Sivas Deputy Rukiye Toy pointed out that they have allocated the largest share to education during their party's tenure. Stating that approximately 80 percent of the teachers in the country were appointed and started their duties during the AK Party governments, Toy continued her words as follows:

"With these appointments, the number of students per teacher dropped from 21 in 2002 to 13 students in 2023 at the general secondary education level. Again, with the investments made in this period, the schooling rate of girls in secondary education, which was 39 percent before 2002, has reached 90 percent today, and the net schooling rate has exceeded 95 percent. With the career system implemented by enacting the Teaching Profession Law, which has been waiting for 60 years, additional social and financial rights have been granted to our teachers."

AK Party's Toy said that they would strengthen the education infrastructure with the budget and investments they have allocated and that they would make the 2nd century of the Republic an "education century."

In the voting held after the discussions, the group proposals of the Saadet Party, İYİ Party, HEDEP, and CHP were rejected.

Following this in the General Assembly, discussions began on bills regarding the approval of the ratification of certain international agreements.

News Source: AA