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EDUCATING TURKEY
By Nazlan Ertan
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Nov 18 2006
Opinions
The week, between the two key congresses of the right wing, was
dominated by an issue just as explosive as the congresses itself:
education.
Admittedly, education has always been the Achilles' heel of this
government, and The New Anatolian certainly offers its tentative
praise to Huseyin Celik, who managed to keep his post as education
minister despite all the objections from the military, higher education
officials and the public. Erkan Mumcu, who now has his eyes on the
prime ministry, failed miserably in his short tenure as education
minister, attracting both the anger and the scorn of university
professors, who referred to him as "rookie" or "the boy."
But the 17th Education Convention, convening to grab headlines after
-- years, proved to be a hot potato rather than an asset to the
government. First of all, the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) was accused of imposing its agenda related to the university
entrance of vocational schools, namely the clergy high schools known
as imam hatip.
Given the time and effort allocated to facilitate students of
vocational schools being able to enter any university of their choice,
many accused the government of not looking at education strategy but
at its own election strategy. Presently, the graduates of vocational
schools get points in the centralized university exam when their
points are calculated for universities of the field they studied,
and have a disadvantage when they decide to switch fields. To give a
concrete example, a graduate of an imam hatip school would get extra
points if his score was calculated to enter a faculty of theology
but not for political science.
The desire to recalculate the coefficient of high school average in
the overall score has been constantly expressed by the AKP government
but was stalled by the president and the Constitutional Court.
Thus, when this issue -- rather than the badly needed discussion on
Turkish education's compatibility with international standards, the
need for adult education, the need for vocational education to meet
the needs of the public and language training -- dominated the news,
many felt that this was an imposition.
Education Minister Celik defended the decisions, saying that the
ministry did not impose an agenda on the convention. He said that
several key academics will prepare reports after the convention,
which he described as a platform for free thought, and added that no
opposition party should use certain ideas expressed at the convention
as a tool to denigrate the initiative.
Like Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Celik also gave assurances
that the government respected secularism. "The Turkish Republic's
education system is secular," he said, blaming, like the premier,
the press for ignoring the big picture and just concentrating on a
couple of mistakes or shortcomings at the convention.
The convention is now over, but alas, the problems and criticism in
the education sector are not.
Search me
One would have thought that State Minister and chief negotiator for the
EU Ali Babacan would have enough troubles without searching for more.
This time trouble went searching for him. When Danish security guards
at the Copenhagen airport wanted to search Babacan, it blew up into
a diplomatic crisis. Denmark apologized, and the event was described
as one that is "unfortunate."
"Unfortunately,&quo t; this was not an isolated action. Copenhagen security
caused similar incidents over the last two years, including one with
recently deceased former Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in 2005. Ecevit,
arriving in the country with full documentation, was kept waiting
for half an hour during which he fell ill.
Fortunately, Babacan is in better health. Not so much can be said
of Turkish-Danish ties after the cartoon crisis and the Kurdish and
pro-PKK Roj-TV broadcasts.
French leave
The damage imposed on Turco-French ties after the French National
Assembly passed the law to penalize denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide had dropped from the front pages of newspapers. But it made
a pronounced comeback when Gen. Ilker Basbug, the commander of the
land forces, said that the military was boycotting France after the
decision. Paris tried to shrug off the remarks, only to be told the
next day, this time by Turkey's Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, that
France was intentionally left off the list of invitees to the Eighth
Defense Industry Fair. A French colonel reportedly left as soon as
he heard the remarks. Hurriyet daily gave the news with the headline:
"Offended by a couple of words".
By Nazlan Ertan
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Nov 18 2006
Opinions
The week, between the two key congresses of the right wing, was
dominated by an issue just as explosive as the congresses itself:
education.
Admittedly, education has always been the Achilles' heel of this
government, and The New Anatolian certainly offers its tentative
praise to Huseyin Celik, who managed to keep his post as education
minister despite all the objections from the military, higher education
officials and the public. Erkan Mumcu, who now has his eyes on the
prime ministry, failed miserably in his short tenure as education
minister, attracting both the anger and the scorn of university
professors, who referred to him as "rookie" or "the boy."
But the 17th Education Convention, convening to grab headlines after
-- years, proved to be a hot potato rather than an asset to the
government. First of all, the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) was accused of imposing its agenda related to the university
entrance of vocational schools, namely the clergy high schools known
as imam hatip.
Given the time and effort allocated to facilitate students of
vocational schools being able to enter any university of their choice,
many accused the government of not looking at education strategy but
at its own election strategy. Presently, the graduates of vocational
schools get points in the centralized university exam when their
points are calculated for universities of the field they studied,
and have a disadvantage when they decide to switch fields. To give a
concrete example, a graduate of an imam hatip school would get extra
points if his score was calculated to enter a faculty of theology
but not for political science.
The desire to recalculate the coefficient of high school average in
the overall score has been constantly expressed by the AKP government
but was stalled by the president and the Constitutional Court.
Thus, when this issue -- rather than the badly needed discussion on
Turkish education's compatibility with international standards, the
need for adult education, the need for vocational education to meet
the needs of the public and language training -- dominated the news,
many felt that this was an imposition.
Education Minister Celik defended the decisions, saying that the
ministry did not impose an agenda on the convention. He said that
several key academics will prepare reports after the convention,
which he described as a platform for free thought, and added that no
opposition party should use certain ideas expressed at the convention
as a tool to denigrate the initiative.
Like Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Celik also gave assurances
that the government respected secularism. "The Turkish Republic's
education system is secular," he said, blaming, like the premier,
the press for ignoring the big picture and just concentrating on a
couple of mistakes or shortcomings at the convention.
The convention is now over, but alas, the problems and criticism in
the education sector are not.
Search me
One would have thought that State Minister and chief negotiator for the
EU Ali Babacan would have enough troubles without searching for more.
This time trouble went searching for him. When Danish security guards
at the Copenhagen airport wanted to search Babacan, it blew up into
a diplomatic crisis. Denmark apologized, and the event was described
as one that is "unfortunate."
"Unfortunately,&quo t; this was not an isolated action. Copenhagen security
caused similar incidents over the last two years, including one with
recently deceased former Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in 2005. Ecevit,
arriving in the country with full documentation, was kept waiting
for half an hour during which he fell ill.
Fortunately, Babacan is in better health. Not so much can be said
of Turkish-Danish ties after the cartoon crisis and the Kurdish and
pro-PKK Roj-TV broadcasts.
French leave
The damage imposed on Turco-French ties after the French National
Assembly passed the law to penalize denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide had dropped from the front pages of newspapers. But it made
a pronounced comeback when Gen. Ilker Basbug, the commander of the
land forces, said that the military was boycotting France after the
decision. Paris tried to shrug off the remarks, only to be told the
next day, this time by Turkey's Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, that
France was intentionally left off the list of invitees to the Eighth
Defense Industry Fair. A French colonel reportedly left as soon as
he heard the remarks. Hurriyet daily gave the news with the headline:
"Offended by a couple of words".