Sera Kadıgil addressed Yusuf Tekin during the budget hearings of the Ministry of National Education.
Sera Kadıgil, spokesperson for the Turkish Workers“ Party (TİP), participated in the 2024 budget deliberations for the Ministry of National Education, which began yesterday in the Planning and Budget Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). Addressing Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, Kadıgil stated, ’You have increased the number of private schools from 1 percent to 9 percent. You are handing over the Turkish education system to capital.”.
Budget deliberations for the Ministry of National Education’s 2024 budget began yesterday (November 14) at the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s Planning and Budget Committee. Sera Kadıgil, spokesperson for the TİP and Member of Parliament for Istanbul, also participated in the budget deliberations.
In his speech, Adıgil—who has stated that Minister Tekin has been serving the ruling party’s goal of “raising devout and vengeful generations” ever since his days as undersecretary—also noted that “the Turkish education system has been handed over to capital.”.
KADIGİL HIGHLIGHTED TEKİN’S ‘CAREER’
In a speech addressed to Minister Yusuf Tekin, TİP Spokesperson Kadıgil stated the following:
“In 2013, Mr. Yusuf Tekin was appointed Undersecretary of the Ministry of National Education. That same year, ‘coincidentally,’ the Pledge of Allegiance was abolished. Fast forward to 2014: Under Law No. 6528, all education administrators at the central and provincial levels—approximately 50,000 people—were removed from their posts, with the exception of Mr. Yusuf. The same law paved the way for private school teachers to receive lower salaries than public school teachers and dismantled the Ministry of National Education’s inspection system. In 2015, support began to be provided to private schools on a per-student basis under the name of ‘educational support.’ Instead of allocating the budget to public schools and the children attending them, we are allocating 8 billion TL to children attending private schools.
‘During your tenure as undersecretary, regulations were enacted to allow the opening of ‘private dormitories’ at the middle school level.’
As we approach 2016, an organization called the ’Maarif Foundation‘—also known as the ’Shadow Ministry‘—is being established. While 70,000 lira is spent per student here, the Ministry of National Education’s budget per student remains at 23,000 lira. Under the same regulations, the absurdity known as ’contract teachers‘ is invented. You know better than I do what that means. Just this morning, a female colleague of mine who is a contract teacher was speaking in front of Parliament. She said, ’This month, I received a salary of 6,000 lira for my work as a teacher. I gave 3,000 lira to the babysitter I hired to look after my child—though you can’t even find a babysitter for that price—and 2,000 lira went toward bills. So this month, I taught in this country for 1,000 lira.‘ A female teacher is saying this. During the same period—I’m referring to your time as undersecretary—legislation was being passed to allow the opening of private boarding schools at the middle school level. It was the Ensar Foundation, this and that; the way was paved for those back-alley facilities where children, especially those from outlying areas, were kept. That same year, the requirement for schools to have prayer rooms was introduced.
‘During your tenure as undersecretary, thousands of public properties were placed at the disposal of religious orders and communities.’
It’s 2017, and you’re still the undersecretary. We have 17,000 top scorers on the TEOG exam. In Batman alone, there are 10 students in a single classroom. Our undersecretary considers this situation normal. The regulations on social activities are being amended, and school-based, inter-school, and international events are being replaced by nonsensical activities organized by associations such as TÜGVA, Ensar, and the Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge. That same year, the ‘Regulation on Establishing Superficies Rights on Public Real Property for Educational and Dormitory Activities’ was issued. During your tenure as undersecretary, thousands of public properties were transferred to the service of religious orders and communities through this regulation. We discussed this at the Ministry of Youth; they were boasting about increasing the number of dormitories. During the same period, the number of dormitories run by religious orders increased by 93 percent.
‘EMPHASIS ON THE ’PERSONAL LAW”
It’s 2018; the position of undersecretary is being abolished, and you are stepping down from your post. Just 10 days before you step down, a Presidential Decree is issued, stipulating that rectors must be appointed from among those who have served as professors for at least three years. Barely two months pass. On September 13, 2018, Presidential Decree No. 17 repeals this three-year requirement, and just two days later, you are appointed rector of Hacı Bayram Veli University. I am a lawyer, Mr. Tekin. There is something called the ’Gifted Children Act‘—a law enacted just once in our history specifically for an individual: İdil, Biret, and Suna Kan. Your name is now inscribed alongside theirs in golden letters.
‘You Appointed Asım Sultanoğlu, Who Was Removed from His Post Due to the ’ENSAR’ Case, as Provincial Director of National Education”
What do you do next? Two months after becoming a minister, you bring in a man named Asım Sultanoğlu—who was set to become the Provincial Director of National Education in Karaman through Ensar—and appoint him as the Provincial Director of National Education in Urfa. Did you know, Mr. Tekin, that I worked as a lawyer at Ensar? On my second day in office, I went to see this man named Asım and said, ‘There’s a foundation called the Ensar Foundation that’s set up a place under the stairs here, and something like this has happened to nearly 40 children. Are you aware of this?’ It’s clear who your friend is—when he came, he looked me in the face and said, ’How could that be, my dear? Would we even know about something like that?‘ And yet, this very person—who was removed from his post—was able to be appointed once again as the Provincial Director of National Education in Urfa, as if he’d done a great service, just two days after you became minister.
‘YOU’RE HANDING THE TURKISH EDUCATION SYSTEM OVER TO CAPITAL’
All of this is happening during your tenure. In that sense, I don’t think you’re like the other ministers. You are an important minister. Because, in my opinion, there is only one thing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan listens to when it comes to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and that is the statement where he said, ‘If I weren’t President, I would be the Minister of National Education.’ I think this is the reason he’s keeping you in this position. You’re sitting in that chair right now because, among all the ministries, you’ve worked for years—tooth and nail—to establish exactly the system the Palace Regime wants. And the reason I address everyone else who comes here as ‘Mr. Minister’ but address you as ‘Mr. Tekin’ stems precisely from this. You are here not to serve the children of this country or their education, but to ensure that the children of this country live and grow up exactly as you wish. On top of that, you have another ’achievement.‘ You don’t mention it in your reports, but you’ve increased the percentage of private schools from 1% to 9%. In other words, under the guise of ’raising a devout and vengeful generation,” you are handing over the Turkish education system to capital.