VAN - Stating that education has become a tool to shape the society in Turkey, Head of Education Sen Wan Branch Murat Atabay said: "The discussions on co-education are the result of these policies."
Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, in a television program he attended, suggested that some families do not send their girls to school due to co-education, and suggested "opening girls' schools". While many people condemned this proposal of Minister Tekin, support statements were also made from the MHP, the Great Unity Party (BBP) and the Free Cause Party, which are in the People's Alliance.
Murat Atabay, Head of Wan Branch of Education and Science Workers' Union (Egitim Sen), said that the main purpose is to spread these discussions over time and put them into practice.
THE PURPOSE OF SHAPING SOCIETY
Pointing out that the People's Alliance has policies aimed at reshaping education and society, Atabay stated that after the last election results, there is a consensus on this issue with those who joined the alliance. Atabay said: “The approach of the Welfare Party and the Free Cause Party to women and children is obvious. At the moment, the new policies of the government are mostly voiced by the Welfare Party and the Free Cause Party. They made a speech through co-education. There is a social structure they want to establish and they do not recognize a place for women in this structure. The most important step that will detach women from society and living space will be to cut them off from education. They want to implement this policy by separating children as men and women, starting from primary school in education. It is clear that there is an internal debate about this. We will see how they will implement the applications of this in the coming processes, depending on the social reaction.”
THE EFFECT OF EDUCATION IN MOTHER TONGUE
Expressing that they do not find it appropriate to discuss these issues instead of demands for scientific, secular education in their mother tongue, Atabay said: "The main problems in Turkey are never discussed or brought to the agenda. The main reason for today's economic crisis is the consequences of the policy of annihilation and denial in the Kurdish problem. When asked about the reasons for the emergence of the economic crisis, they mostly evaluate idle, different and secondary causes. This is the same in education policy. Problems in education are not discussed in Turkey. The fact that people whose mother tongue is not Turkish are not educated in their mother tongue has a huge impact on children. But the government ignores it. There is an education model based on dogmatic approaches that are far from being scientific."
SOCIAL LIVING AREAS REDUCED
Noting that the current government will implement these discussions over time, Atabay said: "The mixed education debates are not new and that we took our first steps on this basis when they introduced the 4+4+4 education system. The opening of Imam Hatip schools and the teaching of religious lessons are taught as basic lessons. They give more place to religion lessons by reducing the hours of all social life, sports and artistic activities of children. The removal of the philosophy course from the curriculum and the reduction of the number of other courses, and the gradual placing of religion courses instead, are actually efforts to move the society according to the criteria that take religion as a reference. Co-educational debates are also the result of these policies. Education in Turkey has become the most important tool to shape the society”.
‘THESE STEPS SHOULD NOT BE SEEN SIMPLE’
Expressing that the government, which wants to cut off women from life, will imprison women in places that they define as “the private living space of women,” Atabay said: “By imprisoning women at home, they will prevent them from taking part in society, life or politics in any way, with this mixed education I mentioned. The infrastructure of this will be schools in the area that these people place in their subconscious. They will apply it starting from primary school. They will try to create a perception in children in their first education. We have been voicing the danger of this for years. That's how it went in Afghanistan, and today women's rights are not recognized. The government wants to create a model of society that is desired to be created with sharia in Turkey. We see this as very dangerous in terms of separating women from the living space of society and disrupting the structure of society. The steps the government wants to implement are not simple steps. It is women who will bring peace today. They are the women who protect the society. If an enlightened future is to be thought of, one should really be aware of the role of women at this point.”