Date posted: February 22, 2016

TÜRKMEN TERZİ | JOHANNESBURG

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, paid a visit to a Turkish school established by volunteers of the Gülen movement, which is inspired by the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, in the South African city of Durban, saying its students are “privileged” to be educated there.

After walking around Star College for a while, Zuma gave a speech to the students and administrators of the school, thanking them for their “warm welcome.”

“I am very happy that I am here to see the students from Star College. Because I know that you are [part of a] very privileged school. You are very privileged to be here,” Zuma said.

Zuma emphasized that students of Star College should fight racism and sexism.

“I am glad you are in nice schools, getting [a] good education. Use it to the advantage of other women, and of course I hope the boys here are part of a [men’s] movement [which holds that men should] understand their daughters as [well] as their sons, their sisters as [well] as them, their brothers, their mothers as [well] as their fathers. So they are showing me that they are part of it. {Those …] men [show us] that we have to work for it in order to free this country of sexism. I hear a lot about racism, I heard less about sexism. Our constitution [says] we must be a nonracial, nonsexist society,” Zuma added, referring to the positive effects of good education on society.

Zuma said at one time people had to fight to find a way to receive an education and that therefore students educated in Turkish schools are lucky because of the opportunity of education given to them.

Zuma was awarded the Fethullah Gülen Peace and Dialogue Award during the eighth annual Ubuntu Lecture and Dialogue Awards ceremony held in Johannesburg in September 2015.

Source: Today's Zaman , February 21, 2016

Tags: Africa | Education | Hizmet-inspired schools |