The recent ex-officio appointment of teachers with excess norm staff and the problems experienced during the application process for in-province excuse appointments brought the content of the ‘District groups’ regulation to the agenda.
District groups arrangement
The regulation on district groups is defined as follows in subparagraph (i) of the first paragraph of Article 3 titled “Definitions” of the Teaching Profession Law No. 7528 published in the Official Gazette dated October 18, 2024 and numbered 32696: ’District group: The group formed by bringing together two or more districts in provinces by taking into account geographical characteristics and transportation facilities...“.
Again, in paragraph 6 of Article 18 of the Law No. 7528 on the Teaching Profession, under the title of relocation of teachers; “Teachers who are surplus to the norm staff in the educational institutions where they are employed may request to be relocated to educational institutions with vacant norm staff within the province. The appointments of those who cannot be assigned to the educational institutions they have requested due to insufficient service points and those who do not make a request can be made ex officio within the province by the relevant governors, primarily to educational institutions with vacant norm staff within the same district group.”, in the seventh paragraph; “The assignments of teachers by relocation due to demand and excuse situations, service regions, service areas, district groups and other issues regarding the implementation of this article are determined by the regulation to be issued by the Ministry.”.
Article 13 titled “Formation of district groups” of the Regulation on the Employment of Contracted Teachers of the Ministry of National Education states: “(1) The district group determination commission consists of district directors of national education under the chairmanship of the provincial director of national education. (2) The district group determination commission forms district groups by taking into account the geographical characteristics and transportation facilities of the districts. The district groups are published in the Journal of Communiqués after the approval of the Minister.” In this framework, the district groups and independent districts determined by the commission established in the governorships were published in the April-2025 issue of the Journal of Communiqués of the Ministry of National Education dated 2809 and entered into force.
How were the district groups formed?
To give some examples from the district groups created;
Ankara province is divided into five district groups and three independent districts.
Region 1: Akyurt, Altındağ, Ayaş, Çasnkaya, Çubuk, Elmadağ, Etimesgut, Kahramankazan, Keçiören, Mamak, Pursaklar, Sincan, Yenimahalle.
2nd Region: Bala, Golbasi, Haymana.
Region 3: Evren, Sereflikochisar.
Region 4: Beypazari, Güdül.
Region 5: Çamlidere, Kizilcahamam.
Kalecik, Nallıhan and Polatlı were also designated as independent districts.
Gaziantep province is divided into two district groups.
Region 1: Araban, Karkamış, Nizip, Oğuzeli, Şahinbey, Şehitkamil, Yavuzeli.
Region 2: Islahiye, Nurdağı.
Those who are curious about the district groups in other provinces can refer to the Ministry of National Education's Journal of Communiqués dated April 2025 and numbered 2809.
The Law on the Teaching Profession, the Ministry of National Education Regulation on the Employment of Contracted Teachers, the Ministry of National Education Regulation on the Assignment and Relocation of Teachers, and the regulation on district groups published in the April 2025 issue 2809 of the Ministry of National Education's Journal of Communiqués have clearly revealed the Ministry of National Education's intentions regarding the assignment and transfer of teachers.
The situation of overstaffed teachers
While the Ministry of National Education used to use the same district as the basis for the assignment of surplus teachers, after these regulations, it will and does use district groups as the basis. In this case, an overstaffed teacher working in the 1st group in Ankara will be able to be assigned ex officio to any district in Akyurt, Altındağ, Ayaş, Çankaya, Çubuk, Elmadağ, Etimesgut, Kahramankazan, Keçiören, Mamak, Pursaklar, Sincan, Yenimahalle districts where there is a vacancy. Similarly, an overstaffed teacher working in Gaziantep 1st region can be assigned to any of the districts of Araban, Karkamış, Nizip, Oğuzeli, Şahinbey, Şehitkamil, Yavuzeli. The districts in both Ankara and Gaziantep 1st regions are between 75 and 100 kilometers apart.
The situation of teachers who will request for excused relocation
Relocation of teachers due to excuse and other reasons is regulated to be between district groups. In other words, a teacher working in Ankara 1st region or Gaziantep 1st region will not be able to request a compassionate transfer within the same region, but will be able to request between regions.
Optional in-province relocation of teachers
Regulations have been made regarding the queue registration and queue-based assignment procedures in the optional in-province relocation of teachers. Teachers who cannot be placed in their preferences according to the first results in the internal voluntary relocation process will be queued to be assigned to the educational institutions in their first two preferences.
In this regard, district groups will not be taken into consideration, but school preferences will be taken as a criterion.
What happens in case of rotation?
Teachers will be able to work in the same educational institution for a maximum of 12 years in total. Teachers who have served in the same educational institution for a total of 12 years as of September 30th of the year of relocation will be assigned to educational institutions in need of teachers in their fields in the district groups determined by the governorships, taking into account the geographical situation and transportation conditions, within a maximum of two months from the end of the school year upon the announcement to be made, in line with their preferences, according to the superiority of service points. The appointments of those who cannot be assigned to their preferences and those who do not make a preference will be made ex officio by the governorships to the educational institutions in the district groups where there is a need for teachers in their fields, starting from the one with the highest tenure in the same educational institution.
The above-mentioned regulations will allow for the assignment of surplus teachers, teachers requesting excuse-based relocation and teachers within the scope of rotation to schools in physically distant settlements for kilometers.
The first victims of these regulations were the teachers who were overstaffed and the teachers who requested to be relocated on compassionate grounds. When rotation is implemented, new victimizations will continue to occur.
As a result, it is absurd to ask the Ministry of National Education, which has consciously carried out all these regulations, to take back these regulations on the grounds that these regulations have created victimizations. For this reason, all our colleagues, especially education unions, have no choice but to raise the struggle against these and similar regulations.