In the last week of 2025, the Ministry of National Education launched a comprehensive investigation into “phenomenon teachers and administrators” who reached a high number of followers on social media with the videos they shot at schools. Within the scope of the work carried out in 81 provinces, disciplinary action will be taken against those who violate student privacy with posts contrary to the legislation.
In making this decision, the Ministry of National Education took into account the complaints received by CIMER and the MoNE communication center. According to information obtained from the MoNE, phenomenon teachers and administrators will be examined according to the following criteria;
Violation of Privacy: Whether audio and video recordings of students are shared without permission.
Article 24, paragraph a) of the Law on the Teaching Profession states that “Those who share audio or video footage of students and educational processes outside the procedures specified in the relevant legislation shall be punished with reprimand.” Teachers who make such posts will not be subject to an investigation if they obtain parental permission.
Education Ethics: The appropriateness of the posts to the dignity of the teaching profession and educational processes.
This issue will be evaluated by the relevant investigators, and any remarks that are unworthy of the dignity of the teaching profession or of a civil servant will be subject to investigation.
Commercial Earnings: Whether the posts made on social media serve a commercial purpose.
In this regard, paragraph h) of Section D of Article 125 of the Civil Servants Law No. 657 stipulates that “Engaging in trade or other gainful activities prohibited for civil servants is punishable by suspension of progression.”.
Article 15 of the Civil Servants Law regulates the issue of “Giving Information or Statements to the Press”. According to the article, “Civil servants may not give information or statements to the press, news agencies or radio and television organizations about their public duties. The necessary information in this regard may only be given by the governors in the provinces or the officials authorized by the minister. Information related to military service may not be disclosed by anyone other than the personnel authorized by special laws and Presidential Decrees.” According to this article, civil servants cannot give statements and information to the press only about their public duties, and there is no inconvenience if other posts do not constitute a crime.
With the Law on the Teaching Profession and the Law No. 657 on Civil Servants in force, aren't there issues that should already be investigated without the need for a complaint, such as whether teachers share audio and video recordings of their own students; whether teachers make posts that are unworthy of the dignity of teaching and civil service; and whether social media posts bring commercial gain?
Isn't it the duty of the MoNE to enforce the legislation in force?
Will there be no investigations into educational administrators who are partners of dershane and study centers; school administrators who organize teachers to get students to buy auxiliary resources that are forbidden in schools; school administrators and teachers who make students take mock exams conducted by private institutions despite the fact that it is forbidden in primary schools; teachers who direct their students to the dershane and study centers where they work; paid studies opened for children in schools under the name of social clubs; teachers who give private lessons?
Are invasions of privacy, educational ethics and commercial gain only on social media?
While the unethical and commercially lucrative activities listed above are already in full swing, a large-scale hunt for phenomenal teachers on social media inevitably brings to mind the question, “I wonder if the Ministry of National Education has started a hunt for dissident teachers instead of phenomenal teachers.”
Another dimension of the social media issue is that a large mass of people come together in the virtual public space, discuss, exchange views, generate ideas, evaluate the government's actions on every issue and try to create an alternative. In this sense, educators are the most important professional group using social media.
Recently, the Ministry of National Education's actions such as the Turkish Century Education Model, the Law on the Teaching Profession, the National Education Academy, teacher appointments, interviews, MESEMs and ÇEDES have been subjected to a lot of criticism on social media, which may have led the Ministry of National Education to hunt for dissident teachers under the name of phenomenon teacher hunt.
We will wait and see...