Gülşen KOÇUK

DIYARBAKIR –Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Diyarbakır deputy Nursel Aydoğan has talked to JINHA regarding the current debates on 4+4+4 education act which has been passed recently. Nursel said, “Justice and Development Party (AKP) is far away from solving the problem of mother tongue education, gender discrimination, regional discrimination, assignment and staffing problems of teachers.” Eğitim Sen Women’s Secretary Sakine Esen Yılmaz has also told JINHA that education has been turned into a profit maximizing firm.  

4+4+4 compulsory education system which has become a current issue from the end of February on, was passed by the Parliament on March 30, 2012. The new system is defined as a contra-education system promoted by AKP against the current 8-year compulsory primary education system. The new model which divides compulsory education into three stages as 4+4+4 has become law despite all objections raised. Many civil society organizations including BDP, CHP, Education and Science Laborer Union (Eğitim Sen) except for MHP, the only supporter of AKP, are against the latest 4+4+4 formula.  BDP, CHP and CSOs criticized AKP for trying to set a new education system without solving current problems. 

“Legislation will stimulate assimilation in the southeast”

Selma Kıratlı, an active member of Selis Female Organization founded in Diyarbakır in 2002 which aims at supporting women over age of 15 living in southeast socially, psychologically and juridically has interpreted the legislation in terms of sociological aspects. Selma criticizes AKP of holding a totalitarian attitude during enacting of the legislation. She says AKP government passed the legislation depending solely on the power they got after the latest elections and that such an important issue should have been discussed thoroughly by participation of all segments of the society. She also mentioned some troubles that education system may lead to. She thinks one of them is related to the situation of poor students whom schools might ask to pay for their education fees following implementation of the legislation. Selma states, “Studies indicate that 50 thousand educators will become supernumeraries once the legislation is put into practice which means 1000 more unemployed teachers only in Diyarbakır”.   She also says there is no preparation and adequate educational infrastructure to make application of packages like “Social sciences” or “physical sciences” possible except for the “Religion package”.  Another problem about the legislation is that students will have to choose among these three packages which won’t be appropriate for a child of young age, especially for those with parents unconscious about educational issues. She also emphasizes that the new education system will stimulate the assimilation process in the southeastern parts of the country. 

“4+4+4: One More Male-Dominated Legislation”

Pointing out that none of the female groups were asked for their opinion during the enacting process, Selma defines it as, “one more male-dominated legislation”. Asserting that female murders, harassments and rapes are all outcomes of the previous education system she says, “New education system does not say anything about the women issue being no more than continuation of the current male-dominated mentality. The male profile continuously recreated by the system ensures continuation of the current male-dominated system.” She states that before the final draft, first 4-year stage was compulsory, and then thanks to the women’s struggle, all three stages have been included in the scope of compulsory schooling.  “There should be social gender education, an area which has been ignored by the government during the legislation process. We plan to coordinate with other institutions” she said.    

“We do not have enough information even to criticize the legislation”

Aslı Dilara Kızıldağ, member of Istanbul Amargi Women Academy, has talked to JINHA about her opinions for 4+4+4 compulsory legislation which was passed by the Parliament on March 30, 2012. Reminding that the legislation, when it was even confirmed, was like a puzzle for all, she then asserts that they are right to be still concerned about the legislation which was confirmed regardless of what the people and educators think of, and without any discussion. Stating that education is being imposed by the authorities, “Education is an instrument forming and standardizing the individual, destroying diversities, affirming obedience and the use of violence” she said. To her, the process of enacting the legislation proves how democratic the legislation itself is and she further claims that it is unacceptable to let children attend formal training at school at 5 years old and to decide for their future education at 9 years old.

“Education is to become a profit maximizing sector”

Ankara Eğitim Sen Secretary General Sakine Esen Yılmaz reviewed the legislation as an educator laborer. She said that in case of any amendments on education system, the educators should be consulted further asserting that education was a profit maximizing sector. Reminding that they were not asked for their opinions, “They neither ask, nor take care what we pronounce through media” says Sakine. Many members of Eğitim Sen were kept from going to Ankara and even arrested for opposing or criticizing the legislation. They were also hindered from protesting outside and exposed to intense tear gas and beating by the police.  She further states that they supported an education model based on scientific, democratic principles promoting education in mother tongue. To her, recent elective courses on Quran and life of the Prophet are against secularism.

 “Children are to get standardized and uniform”

Claiming that this legislation will allow some parents pull their daughters out of formal schooling Sakine says, “This means that the number of child laborers and child-brides will increase”. Drawing attention to the big number of first stage teachers who will get unemployed after implementation of the legislation Sakine claims, on the contrary, there will be need for more teachers in the second stage. To her, Ministry of National Education has no solution for such problems and through this new system; the government is promoting private education which will create unequal conditions for poor students. She states her further concerns as follows: “We have concerns about standardization of the youth throughout a conservative Turkish Islamic education. Children will be directed to private courses because of the new certificate model which means that they want to create new profit maximizing areas. The recent education system leads students to vocational schools.  Market will create its own workers with the help of this system and the workers will be mostly male students.”

“It is a part of neo-liberal transformation”

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Diyarbakır deputy Nursel Aydoğan has told JINHA that she had concerns about 4+4+4 legislation. Asserting that AKP perceived the education as an ideological tool to raise individuals based on the AKP ideology  itself and market demands, Nursel also pointed out that  4+4+4 education system was the most concrete example of this problematical approach. Nursel defines 4+4+4 education system as being part of neo-liberal transformation process designed to be a tool in the hands of capital economy.  She further claims that through the new legislation AKP deepens the social disintegration by making education subordinate to capital economy , which means “Stay where you are” for poor, the disabled, Kurds, women and all others.

Nursel also emphasizes that the legislation which will come into effect in 2012-2013 Academic Year, aims at raising cheap and qualified child labor. “Don’t they know that vocational school graduates are unemployed or working in other sectors than their own area of expertise with minimum wages under unsecure conditions as cheap work force?” Nursel asks.  She also adds that education has always been considered as a lathe used to shape children’s future and that children have been perceived as raw materials: “Education system is constantly changed by changing governments according to the relations of production thus becoming an extricable.”  With this new education system, AKP cannot solve current educational problems, on the contrary they serve nothing than deepening disintegration. She also added that the legislation serves AKP to raise its own bland youth and capital economy to raise qualified cheap labor force as wanted.      

 “The number of female students will decrease”

Stating that AKP can prove its sincerity only if it changes its approach to education system Nursel says, “As long as AKP perceives education as an ideological tool, they can come up with any model they want; 4+4+4 or 1+1+1+1+... or 5+10...The model does not bring about any solutions to the existing problems, namely, mother tongue education,  reproduction of the existing monist state ideology again and again,  discrimination based on class basis and regional identities, assimilation in boarding schools and the exam-based system. Commercialization of education, gender discrimination, violation of laborers’ social and economic rights, staffing issue, unemployment  of hundred thousands of graduates of faculties of education are among other problems which won’t be solved by the new legislation. It will not meet the expectations of the society and also does not provide institutionalization of a democratic, free and scientific education”. Nursel also states that there will be a significant decline especially in the number of female students due to the fact that the system allows students to take a large number of courses from home without attending formal training at school. Pointing out that BDP does not perceive the education system as an ideological tool she said her party considered education as the main driving force for social transformation, liberation and development of critical and creative thinking. She said that BDP has presented many bills on mother tongue and multilingual education all of which were insistently rejected by AKP.  

Photo-Camera: Gülşen KOÇUK

JINHA

(gk/hö/hp)