MINISTER PLEDGES RESPONSE TO WAVE OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE
The education minister described a wave of lethal violence in schools as a “sickness” and suggested social media is to blame.
Analysis
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EDUCATION MINISTER SPARKS ROW OVER INDEPENDENCE AND OTTOMAN LEGACY
Education Minister Yusuf Tekin, no stranger to controversy, has provoked a backlash after announcing a change to the newly updated national school curriculum that renames the War of Independence.
TWO SCHOOL SHOOTINGS IN 24 HOURS RAISE URGENT QUESTIONS ON CHILDHOOD VIOLENCE
While mass school shootings remain rare in Turkey, the back-to-back attacks in Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş have intensified calls for the resignation of Education Minister Yusuf Tekin, as discussions on the increasing violence in education system have come under scrutiny.
SECULARISM DEBATE HEATS UP AHEAD OF RAMADAN
Turkey has once again been drawn into a debate over secularism after Education Minister Yusuf Tekin issued a circular instructing schools to organize Ramadan-themed activities, including the preparation of a “Ramadan checklist” for students.
EDUCATING YUSUF
Hats off to Yusuf Tekin, Turkey’s controversial education minister, for cramming all of Turkey’s thorny subjects into a single speech and creating a debate that drew in political party leaders, actresses, and laymen. It was a performance to steal the limelight from Trump, let alone Erdoğan himself. The Erzurum-born minister, who launched a controversial new curriculum last year, traveled from Baku to Batman, where he presents his education strategy to a large audience. On Nov. 17, he attended COP29 in Baku, where he explained how environmental awareness was now part of the Turkish education system. His critics would say he referred to the controversial project called CEDES, an acronym for “I protect my environment and claim my values.” The project does have an environmental focus, but it also has a “religious values” component under which local imams and preachers are assigned to each school in the project to provide spiritual guidance for students.