The Shadow Politics of Shadow Education

Andrew Finkel
Andrew Finkel


Date posted: November 27, 2013

ANDREW FINKEL

ISTANBUL — “Shadow education” is academic jargon for the way ordinary people bypass the failings of the formal school system by enlisting their children in special programs on the side. In Turkey, the practice is so widespread it has spawned a multibillion-dollar industry of private tutorial colleges that help students cram for highly competitive high-school and university entrance exams. Nearly 1.3 million children in Turkey are enrolled in more than 3,800 tutorial colleges.

A byproduct of an underperforming public education system, this informal sector may be putting even more strain on ordinary schools. Many students in their last year of high school simply don’t bother with their ordinary curriculum, according to a study by Aysit Tansel, an emeritus professor of economics at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. Tutorial colleges may also be perpetuating inequality: They inevitably draw from more prosperous households in the more prosperous parts of the country.

So why aren’t more Turks welcoming the government’s plans to phase out the country’s tutorial colleges starting next year? Because many suspect that the motives behind the new measure are not pedagogical but political.

It is no secret that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has grown wary of the so-called Gulen movement, a faith-based network centered on the charismatic preacher Fethullah Gulen that promotes a mild and modern understanding of Islam.

Started as a series of summer camps in the 1960s, it now runs or influences, through its adherents, a large network of businesses, think tanks, newspapers and television stations — as well as a successful chain of tutorial colleges and private schools.

At first the Gulen movement eagerly backed the AK Party, particularly to rein in the power of the military. But its media affiliates have grown increasingly disillusioned with Erdogan over a range of issues, from his high-handed style to his government’s negotiations with Kurdish militants, which Gulen’s backers consider to be appeasement.

Erdogan, for his part, has grown anxious about the Gulen movement’s growing influence, particularly over the police and the judiciary. In early 2012, public prosecutors believed to be members of the Gulen movement even tried to summon Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkish intelligence and an Erdogan protégé, for questioning.

And now Gulen-affiliated media outlets, particularly the Zaman group of newspapers, are leading the pushback against the government’s proposed ban on tutorial colleges. They argue that the special schools are the only hope for children from low- and middle-income groups of getting into a decent university. They say tutorial colleges are a symptom, not a cause, of social inequality. Scrapping them won’t fix the underlying problem.

A sensible view, perhaps, but something else is at play, too. On Nov. 15, Fetullah Gulen webcast a statement to his followers from his self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania: “If the Pharaoh is against you, if Croesus is against you, then you are walking on the right path.” Pharaoh and Croesus presumably were code words for autocracy and corruption.

The stage is set for the nation-wide local elections next March. In the meantime, pity the poor children.


Andrew Finkel has been a foreign correspondent in Istanbul for over 20 years, as well as a columnist for Turkish-language newspapers. He is the author of the book “Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

Source: Latitude , November 27, 2013


Related News

AK Party founder: I don’t believe claims of parallel state

Yaşar Yakış, former foreign minister and a founding member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), criticized the party on Monday, saying he does not believe in the existence of a “parallel state,” a term used by the AK Party to describe followers of the faith-based Hizmet movement, which the government alleges to have formed an illegitimate structure within the state.

Gülen’s lawyer rejects ‘letter of alliance’ to PKK

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose ideas inspired the faith based Hizmet movement, denied claims made by the Sabah daily claiming that Gülen sent a letter of alliance to the PKK

Test of Turkish society

Over the past 11 years, Turkey has been undergoing an important transformation. While it seems to defend secular and modern-looking Western lifestyles, it is trying to come out of the tangle of Kemalism, which is a regime disregarding democratic values of the West. Even if Kemalism had at first dreamed of establishing a real Western democracy, it was later defiled and turned into a hegemony of the elite.

Education Ministry sought to profile students, teachers through surveys

A new document obtained by Today’s Zaman suggests that the Education Ministry sought in 2012 to profile students and teachers at some prep schools based on their religious and ideological backgrounds through questionnaires handed out to students at state schools. According to the document, the ministry ordered inspectors to visit state schools across the country […]

Liberian Government: Turkish school to remain open

The Liberian Government says the Turkish Light International School System remains a private institution of learning in Liberia and enjoys all the privileges provided all educational institutions operating in the country have until it concludes an investigation into allegations that operators of the school here were linked to a failed coup in Turkey.

‘The work of Hizmet followers is really tackling the fundamentals of what is needed in the society’

Hizmet Movement is represented by the people that I’ve met. I see that there is a common purpose of like-minded people, in a very grass-root way, coming together, pushing for some ideals that they believe in, in the society, and I’m touched by the genuine motivation of the people that I’ve met. I am impressed with the sacrifice that individuals that believe in this contribute to this collective goal that they are trying to reach.

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

Something rotten within the government?

Why Is A Cleric In The Poconos Accused Of Fomenting Turkey’s Coup Attempt?

Gülen’s German collaborator, or the German slap?

Fethullah Gulen denies ties to attempted coup in Turkey

Turkish teacher jailed over Gülen links dies in prison due to lack of medication

Is Gülen Movement A Religious Community (cemaat) or A Social Community (camia)?

Turkey fails to channel money into industry: TUSKON

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News