Top union: Closing prep schools to leave 60,000 jobless


Date posted: March 5, 2014

İSTANBUL

Turkey’s largest business confederation, the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), has said a government plan to shut down private exam preparatory schools (dershanes) will leave an estimated 60,000 teachers at these institutions jobless while causing financial losses to investors.

The government decided to close down the dershanes in November of last year, creating massive debate among the public. With their affordable fees, dershanes are regarded by middle or low-income families as an equalizer of educational opportunities. Although there has been a strong public reaction against the closure of these schools, the government insists on shutting them down.

A report released by TOBB on Tuesday said the government plan will see the closure of around 3,000 dershanes across Turkey, leaving 60,000 teachers without jobs. The report said the closures will also waste $1 billion of investment. “It is hardly possible to replace the quality education provided at dershanes with a better one in this government plan. … Families are being left with no option but to have their children receive private tuition, therefore contributing to unregistered economic activity,” the TOBB report said.

Parliament agreed on new legal regulations for education in February, including a plan to shut down the dershanes, which prepare students for competitive high school and university entrance exams. The regulations have drawn criticism from various circles, as they will force private investment out of the market for no solid reason. Many business unions have criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) for placing an extra burden on private entrepreneurs as part of a plan to crack down on opposition to his government.

Observers have argued that the AK Party is targeting dershanes and schools that are close to the faith-based Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen, whom Erdoğan accuses of plotting to overthrow his government. Gülen has dismissed these claims as baseless, while Erdoğan has failed to provide evidence to back his conspiracy theory. Many dershanes in Turkey are run by the Hizmet movement, especially in eastern and southeastern Anatolia, where the population is generally poorer than in the rest of the country.

Market experts have said the government bill was drafted without any consultation and that the closure of dershanes will pave the way for politicization and nepotism in state education.

Source: Todays Zaman , March 5, 2014


Related News

Tanzanian Minister hails Turkey for continued support in education

Tanzania ISHIK Medical and Education Foundation managed to sponsor more than 200 students to study in Turkey universities in different fields.

Deputy claims Erdoğan prevented medical treatment of Kyrgyz president in Turkey

When Atambayev got sick while in Turkey in September, Erdoğan ordered hospitals across the country to refuse him medical services. Consequently, Atambayev went to Moscow for treatment. The deputy who made this claim also stated that once Erdoğan turns his back on someone, he would never again consider that person a friend.

Turkey’s looming prison massacre grows nearer

It appears Erdogan fears that if the judiciary begins trial for key political prisoners, the prisoners would have a venue at which to speak and raise questions Erdogan does not want addressed, especially with regard to the possibility that the events on the evening of July 15 were Turkey’s equivalent of the Reichstag fire.

Pak-Turk schools: Parents urge government against transferring administration to Erdogan-linked organization

“All the Turkish teachers and administrators have left Pakistan and the schools are being run by Pakistanis,” said one of the parents Syed Amir Abdullah. He added that the government still seemed hell bent on ruining these institutions by handing them over to an ‘infamous organisation’ which has no experience of running them.

Prove it [that Hizmet linked to graft operation]

There are some people who fail to look at the charges that have been leveled against the detainees in the corruption operation that has touched the sons of three ministers and instead they just speculate about the timing and forces that prompted the operation.

NTIC Alumni urges Turkish govt not to close schools

No fewer than Three Thousand, Two Hundred (3200) Alumni members of Nigerian Turkish International Colleges (NTIC) have condemned plans by Turkish government to close down branches of their schools established in various parts of the country.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Hizmet from the Heart

Turkish doctors hailed for their assistance in CAR

‘Turkey using political rather than legal pressure against US to get Gulen extradited’

Hiring based on ‘color lists’ a violation of Constitution, analysts say

An Eye-Opening Trek Into Turkish Society

Ambassadors back Gulen schools in Asia

Political Activism for Peaceful Coexistence in Rumi and Gulen

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News