The “Ramadan Month Activities” regulation sent by the Ministry of National Education to 81 provinces with the signature of Minister Yusuf Tekin is not just a calendar of events or a pedagogical choice. This regulation is another link in the long-standing erosion of secular education in Turkey. This practice, which is presented with nice-sounding expressions such as “strengthening national and spiritual values”, is in reality an ideological intervention that eliminates the neutrality of public education.
The essence of the problem is this:
The state must be impartial in the field of education. This is not a wish, but a clear constitutional obligation.
What Does the Constitution Say? The Nature of the State is Not Open to Debate
Article 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey is very clear on this issue:
“The Republic of Turkey is a democratic, secular and social State of law, respectful of human rights, committed to Ataturk's nationalism, in the spirit of social peace, national solidarity and justice.”
This provision is not open to interpretation.
Secularism is the fundamental characteristic of the state. No public institution, including the Ministry of National Education, can act outside this principle. Practices in the field of public education based on a single understanding of faith clearly contradict Article 2 of the Constitution.
School is not a place of worship
Schools are not places of worship.
Schools are not places where children are directed to religious practices or where they are accustomed to living according to a certain religious calendar. Schools are public spaces where science, reason, critical thinking and equal citizenship are taught.
This regulation, which covers all levels of education from preschool to high school, has been prepared without considering the age, development and pedagogical needs of children. Especially in the preschool period, when children have not yet developed the ability to distinguish abstract concepts, being surrounded by religious symbols, rituals and “sacred” references is not education but guidance.
The question to be asked at this point is this:
On what grounds does the state intervene so directly in children's conscience?
Transforming Public Space with Religious Identity
What is happening in schools today is not simply “Ramadan awareness”. Iftar highlights, Ramadan diaries, mosque visits, religious conversation topics and events organized according to a single religious calendar are all part of a systematic effort to create a religious atmosphere in the public education sphere.
This approach makes the school less of a neutral space.
Because public space is built on pluralism, not monism.
Turkey is not a country where only one faith group lives. There are believers, non-believers, different sects and different beliefs. The duty of the state is to protect this diversity and not to force any child to feel “other”.
Today, however, the “normalization” of the religious atmosphere in schools means ignoring this diversity.
Leaflets Are Not Innocent
The fact that the brochures depict girls wearing headscarves and boys wearing skullcaps clearly shows that the issue is not pedagogical but ideological. These images whisper to children what the “right” and “acceptable” identity is.
Assigning a role to a child who has not yet been able to freely construct his or her identity through religious symbols is a deliberate intervention aimed at shaping his or her future choices. This is not education. This is ideological coding at an early age.
Children's beliefs and disbeliefs are the domain of their family and individual conscience. Not the state.
Secularism is not a Luxury, but a Guarantee
Secularism in this country is not an “old ideology” or a “matter of preference” as some circles claim. Secularism is a fundamental principle that protects both believers and non-believers and guarantees the neutrality of the state.
Without secularism;
education cannot be free,
scientific thought does not develop,
equality between men and women erodes,
different lifestyles come under pressure.
The erosion of secularism in the field of education today will pave the way for deeper divisions in the entire social life tomorrow.
Silence is Consent
Saying that such regulations are “exaggerated”, “the intentions are not bad”, “no one is being forced to do anything” does nothing but hide the problem itself. Because the religious climate created in the public sphere is coercive by nature.
Silence sometimes means consent.
To remain silent, to normalize, to get used to it is to turn a blind eye to the slow dismantling of secular education.
Children's Conscience is Not the Field of Politics
The conscience of our children should be under the protection of equality, freedom and law, not politics. The state cannot shape children in line with a particular belief. As soon as it tries to do so, it ceases to be education and turns into a propaganda platform.
Therefore, to object to this regulation is not to be against religion.
This objection is to defend the Constitution, secularism and the freedom of children.
I do not consent.
I am not giving up on the defense of secular, scientific and public education, because I know that if secularism goes, not only education, but also the Republic's idea of equal citizenship goes.
And we cannot be a partner by remaining silent.