Prep school owners write to Constitutional Court


Date posted: June 10, 2014

ISTANBUL

The Constitutional Court will review a law that seeks to shut down preparatory schools that assist students in studying for the national high school and university admission exams after organizations representing private prep schools wrote to the court, asking to make statements about the problems that might arise due to the closure of these institutions.

The Union of Private Preparatory Schools (ÖZDEBİR), the Güven Preparatory Schools Owners Association (GÜVENDER) and the All Private Education Institutions Association (TÖDER) have written to the Constitutional Court, asking the members to hear the testimony of industry professionals on the possible consequences of shutting down prep schools, Faruk Köprülü, the president of ÖZDEBİR, said on Monday at a press conference held in Ankara. Köprülü said the associations have also asked their member organizations to write to the high court.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) decided last November to close down prep schools, stirring a massive debate. These schools, with their affordable fees, are regarded by mostly middle or low-income families as an equalizer of educational opportunities.

The AK Party’s bill was put to a vote and passed by Parliament on March 7 and signed into law by President Abdullah Gül on March 12. The law states that prep schools will be allowed to operate until Sept. 1, 2015, after which all preparatory courses will be shut down.

ÖZDEBİR and GÜVENDER held a joint press conference on Monday in which they shared their opinions on the law to shut down prep schools. They said the law will not solve the problems that are allegedly being caused by prep schools.

Köprülü said the representatives of prep schools were not against regulations, but noted that the government’s plans to convert prep schools into private schools will hurt the educational sector. He said although the law appeared to create incentives for prep schools to transform to private schools, it was in fact facilitating the transfer of student from private to public schools. Köprülü also said prep schools are the main means through which young people in the East and Southeast prepare for examinations, saying their absence might push young people into the hands of terrorist organizations.

He added the law will cause major financial losses to prep school entrepreneurs and cause many teachers and staff to become unemployed. He also noted that those who have the means to afford private tutoring will receive an unfair advantage over others who don’t.

Köprülü also said the transformation of prep schools should be done voluntarily and through regulations under free market conditions. He said the law is a violation of the rights of prep school owners and staff as well as a violation of the Constitution as it restricts entrepreneurship, free trade and the right to teach and learn. The law is a violation of universally accepted standards of law, he said.

Also on Monday the İzmir branch of the Turkish Education Personnel Union (Türk Eğitim-Sen) made a statement, saying it believed the law will be overturned by the Constitutional Court.

İzmir Branch No. 3 President Adnan Sarısayın said the attempt to shut down prep schools through an anti-democratic practice without doing away with the central examination system is a violation of educators’ rights. Sarısayın also noted that the changes also limited the terms of school administrators to four years, forcing those who have completed their fourth year to leave office.

He said his institution hopes the Constitutional Court, which is convening on June 12, will issue an injunction on the law. “If it rejects this freakish thing that cannot even be called a law and which destroys previously earned rights and upends democracy the high court will live up to its mission [of ensuring that all laws are in line with the Constitution].”

Independent Kütahya deputy İdris Bal also criticized the law on prep schools, saying it is a violation of Article 38 of the Constitution, which protects private entrepreneurship and free trade. He also said given the Constitutional Court’s past rulings the law is likely to be overturned.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Ankara deputy Özcan Yeniçeri also made a statement on Monday, saying no constitutional law professional would possibly approve of the law. “The prep school law will be nullified. You don’t need to be very smart or even a jurist to know this. It will be overturned because it is against entrepreneurial freedoms.”

Constitutional law Professor Ergun Özbudun said the law seeking to shut down prep schools violates eight articles of the Constitution. Özbudun, who was a member of a team drafting a new constitution in 2007 for the AK Party, told the Bugün daily that the law violates Article 2 on the properties of the republic; Article 5 on the fundamental aims and duties of the state; Article 13 on the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms; Article 35 on private ownership; Article 36 on claiming rights; Article 42 on the right to education; Article 48 on employment and contracts; and Article 49 on the right to work.

Source: Todays Zaman , June 9, 2014


Related News

Deputy PM Bozdag: We’re proud of Turkish schools

Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag paid a visit to the local Turkish school, during his official visits in Moldova. A Moldovan students performed a Turkish song in Bozdag’s honor. “The Turkish schools –be it in Moldova or elsewhere in Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle East or Balkans- have been Turkey’s source of pride. They have […]

Turkey’s Erdogan takes cue from Hitler, Stalin and Khomeini

There is something deeply disturbing about the direction in which Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party are taking Turkey. Writing in this newspaper last week, John Lyons compared the sweeping purges to McCarthyism in the US in the 1950s. That was altogether the wrong analogy.

Hate towards Hizmet Movement as a political strategy

The Hizmet movement has broad support from every walk of life in the country. A very popular civic movement, many groups are sympathetic to the cause of the Hizmet. So, the image of the Hizmet had to be turned upside down.

Senegalese deputies say Turkish schools taught them fraternity

A delegation of Senegalese deputies who visited a Turkish schools in Dakar expressed their with Turkish schools in the country saying that they taught them fraternity and charity.

AK Party-Hizmet clash a blessing for world Muslims

The Hizmet has proven that one can remain religiously observant and rise against tyranny at the same time. Thank God the Hizmet movement is one of the main actors in Turkey that has resisted the seemingly democratic but actually autocratic AK Party government’s lawless policies.

A Turkish family has disappeared in Pakistan, and suspicion turns to intelligence agencies

“The police are expressing ignorance about the picking up of Mr. Mesut, so who did this?” asked Muhammed Zubair, a doctor whose children attended the PakTurk school in Peshawar and who represents the parent-teacher association. “This is a dangerous trend and will send a negative image of Pakistan abroad.”

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

Experts speak on role of digital media in society in İstanbul

Mass firings in Turkey: ‘We have been given a social death sentence’

Turkey: Effort to Force Closure of Gülen Schools Falling Flat in Eurasia

Prof. Tures: Erdogan’s policies threaten Turkey

Turkish schools in Azerbaijan join SOCAR-financed int’l education complex

AK Party Deputy Chairman Huseyin Celik: Turkish teachers beat the odds

The Encyclopedia of Islam and hate speech

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News