Bittersweet joy for teachers amid prep schools conflict in Turkey

Teachers wore black ribbons on Sunday for Teachers’ Day in protest of government plans to close prep schools. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Cahit Kılıç)
Teachers wore black ribbons on Sunday for Teachers’ Day in protest of government plans to close prep schools. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Cahit Kılıç)


Date posted: November 25, 2013

Teachers’ Day on Sunday was celebrated with heavy hearts across the country due to the government’s plan to close down prep schools, which is an apparent blow to education in Turkey.

Prep schools are private establishments that offer classes preparing students for high school or university admission examinations. Many rely on them as they offer tuition at affordable prices. Teachers’ organizations across Turkey organized different events throughout Sunday to celebrate the day and to raise awareness on their problems. In reaction to the government’s plan and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s insistence on shutting down private prep schools, prep school teachers in Bitlis province wore black ribbons in classrooms on Sunday. They complained about being portrayed as the scapegoat of the system and being blamed for the existing problems of education in Turkey. Columnists share their views on the necessity of prep schools in the country.

Zaman columnist Ali Ünal expresses how prep schools by the Hizmet movement were established under difficult circumstances under the leadership of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Preps schools prevent students from falling into bad habits by giving them both life and schools lesson at the same time at reasonable prices, writes Ünal.

According to Bugün columnist Ali Atıf Bir, prep schools are the inevitable result of various examinations held by the government. If students were able to learn in schools how to solve question asked in those examinations, there would not be a great need for prep schools in the country, says Bir. It is a God given right for people to seek help from education centers or prep schools and the government should first come up with the same system if it wants to remove prep schools, which can take a long time, rather than just closing down such schools in a short time, Bir thinks

Source: Today's Zaman , November 25, 2013


Related News

Kenya Embassy Donates Food & Warm Clothes to Syrian Refugees

Kenya Embassy donations were channelled through Kimse Yok Mu (or ‘Is Any One there’), a Turkish Non-Governmental Organisation on 29th January, 2013. It is noted that Kimse Yok Mu is one of the international NGOs that actively responded to the Horn of Africa humanitarian crisis in 2011 that saved the lives of thousands of Somali refugees from imminent death due to prolonged drought.

Sweep these [journalists] off the floor

Sevgi Akarçeşme, former editor in chief of Today’s Zaman, recalls the night when the police raided the building of the most important and independent opposition newspaper in Turkey. «What happened to journalists today» she warns « can happen to citizens tomorrow».

In Turkey for once-in-a-lifetime experience

MYRA BLACKMON By the time you read this, I will be in Istanbul, as part of a group beginning a week-long tour as a guest of the Gulen Movement. We will visit tourist sites, but also meet with media folks, spend time in schools and universities and enjoy several dinners in private homes. We will […]

Zaman Editor-in-Chief: Turkish government no longer democratic

Ekrem Dumanlı was arrested on December 14, part of a series of coordinated raids by Turkish authorities against a number of prominent media figures, all facing charges of belonging to a terrorist “parallel organization.” The organization in question? Fethullah Gülen’s outlawed Hizmet movement.

Erdoğan’s personal propaganda tool, the MGK

Erdoğan has asserted that the Gülen movement is to be included in the Red Book as a “prioritized threat.” But never mind the fact that he acts and speaks as though this has all been decided upon already. The fact is, he does not have the proper authority to do this. What’s more, there is absolutely no document or piece of information that would support such a move.

Hizmet really has expanded my understanding of what it means to be human.

Kenneth Hunter is the Principal of the Prosser Career Academy High School. He studied theology at Chicago Loyola University and taught world religions in high schools. He served as the chairperson of Illinois State Board of Education Language Arts Assessment Advisory Council (2002-2012). He is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago.

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Pundits: plans to close down Turkish schools abroad arbitrary, political vandalism

Carino: Interfaith Thanksgiving service a good reminder

Turkish imam spy affair in Germany extends across Europe

Operation and crossroads: Hizmet movement falsely accused

Our three-month ordeal in Turkey’s maximum prison -Nigerian students detained over coup saga

‘Pak Turk Businessmen Association actively working to enhance trade with Turkey’

The view from Brussels

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News