Today’s Zaman
25 September 2009, Friday
Schools open with anti-discrimination lecture, have long way to go
The new academic year started yesterday as around 15 million students
and 650,000 teachers returned to their classrooms. The education
minister was seen wiping the nose of a student.
The new academic year started yesterday as around 15 million students
and 650,000 teachers returned to their classrooms. The education
minister was seen wiping the nose of a student.
The new academic year kicked off yesterday for around 15 million
students and 650,000 teachers. Education Minister Nimet
Ã?ubukçu gave the country’s first lecture devoted to
democracy and discrimination at a school in Ä°stanbul. Education
experts welcomed the move but underlined that Turkey has a long way to
go in its fight against discrimination.
President Abdullah Gül lauded the inclusion of such a course in
curricula in a message he issued on the occasion of the start of the
new school year. He focused on the importance of raising individuals
who are respectful of human rights. `We give priority and great
importance to the raising of new generations as individuals who are
respectful of human rights, human beings and ideas, who are tolerant,
able to develop their skills, think, read profusely and know the
values of the modern world and democracy,’ the president said in his
message.
The Ministry of Education last month issued a circular to all schools
and asked them to devote their first lectures to the subject of
discrimination. While explaining the reason of the anti-discrimination
lecture, Minister �ubukçu said the move could be
considered part of the government’s `democratization initiative.’
The government launched an initiative two months ago to solve the
country’s decades-old Kurdish question. It is expected that the
government’s yet-to-be-announced plan will include the removal of some
obstacles before the Kurdish language in addition to many other new
regulations.
�ubukçu gave a lecture on the fight against discriminat
ol in Ä°stanbul. The speech was broadcast live by TRT 2.
�ubukçu underlined in her speech the importance of
tolerance toward others who are not from the same ethnic group or who
do not speak the same language. `Tolerance means to be able to listen
to those who do not defend the same idea as you, without getting
angry,’ she told the students. Ã?ubukçu underlined that
everyone is talking about the importance of democracy, respect for
human rights and the wrongfulness of discrimination but that not
everyone is able to absorb these ideas and act accordingly.
During her lecture she also underlined the issue of `exclusion’ and
added that there are many ways to do so. `To laugh at, to not to speak
with, to ridicule, to not greet those who are not similar to you —
all these mean to discriminate against them,’ she said.
�ubukçu stressed gender equality and said that one of
the most awful types of discrimination is based on gender.
In Ä°stanbul, Robert College welcomed its new class on
discrimination in an unconventional way. Pieces of paper with the
words `Kurdish,’ `Armenian,’ `Jewish’ and `Turkish’ were placed on the
foreheads of students as an open call for respect for all citizens of
the country.
`Very encouraging but a long way to go’
Ã-ztürk TürkdoÄ?an, the chairman of the Human
Rights Association (Ä°HD), told Today’s Zaman that it is very
hopeful to see the first lecture at schools devoted to discrimination
but added that Turkey has a very long way to go.
He said that although Turkey has ratified major international
agreements about anti-discrimination and despite Turkish law being
based on the principle of equality, there remain many shortcomings in
the fight against discrimination.
`Discrimination is a matter of culture. To fight it and to prevent it
requires time, but still it is very important to devote the first
lecture to the subject to at least improve awareness,’
TürkdoÄ?an said.
He added that as long as the Constitution remains as is, it will be
very diffi
t to overcome discrimination. `Schoolbooks contain many
discriminatory, nationalistic, militarist and gender-based ideas of
discrimination,’ he said.
Commenting on the new lecture, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)
parliamentary group chairman Oktay Vural said he found it unnecessary
as Turkey has no problem of discrimination.
`It is wrong to give the impression that there is a deep-rooted
problem of discrimination in our country. We have no such
problem. Rather, we have assets arising from our diversity. It would
be better if �ubukçu had explained our common values
that bind us together and our assets resulting from our diversity
instead of focusing on diversity or discrimination. With this move,
the government is emphasizing discrimination. We don’t think this is a
good step. A major mission of our national education system is to
endow our children with a culture of coexistence through national
upbringing. In this regard, I strongly disapprove of the government’s
discrimination move. This is because if you bring diversity to the
forefront, you lead people to concentrate on separation, paving the
way for actual division,’ he noted.
Textbooks full of discrimination
Turkey reviewed its schoolbooks two years ago and tried to eliminate
content deemed to be discriminatory, but a recent report titled `Human
Rights in Schoolbooks,’ the result of a collaborative effort between
the History Foundation and the Turkish Human Rights Foundation
(TÄ°HV) involving a survey of 139 textbooks, found that the
books still contain many militarist, nationalist, racist and
gender-biased sections. Only 11 percent of the books were found to be
unproblematic.
`We did the same study two times. The first was in 2004, and after
changes were made to schoolbooks, we repeated the survey in
2008. Unfortunately we noticed that indirect discrimination weighs
heavily, while improvements were not significant,’ Gamze Rezzan
SarıÅ?en, a History Foundation official, told Today’s
Zaman.
The report found that the books did not deve
oblematic in terms of creating an `us versus them’ mentality and not
promoting peaceful values.
The project suggested that the Turkish school curriculum should be
reviewed according to international agreements that Turkey has signed
and that the `National Security Class,’ in which children are
instructed by military personnel, should be abolished.
`Devoting the first lecture to the subject of discrimination is very
important, very hopeful and exciting. But we have some concerns,
too. Both schoolbooks and the mentalities of teachers are very
important. Our teachers’ anti-discrimination training is inadequate,’
SarıÅ?en added.
Zübeyde Kılıç from the Education Personnel
Union (EÄ?itim-Sen) told Today’s Zaman that it is very important
to devote the first lecture to discrimination — especially in a
country such as Turkey, where discrimination is a significant
problem. But she agreed with SarııÅ?ık in
that Turkey needs to take radical steps to fight against deep-rooted
discrimination in the country.
`Discrimination cannot be solved with only one lecture since
discrimination is deeply rooted in all aspects of the education
system. Ethnic, gender and religious discrimination is still present
in school. Teachers also have to be trained to be able to increase the
students’ awareness on the matter, but they have not been given this
training,’ Kılıç said.
National pledge before first lecture on discrimination
Before going to class to hear the first lecture on discrimination,
elementary school students read the national pledge, for many civil
society organizations a discriminative act.
Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples
(Mazlum-Der) Diyarbakır branch Deputy Chairman Abdurrahman Ay
said he is collecting signatures for the removal of the national
pledge from elementary schools. `It is a contradiction to give the
first lecture on discrimination and to still make the children say the
pledge every morning,’ he said.
The pledge in part says: `I am a Turk. I am
protect those younger than me and to respect my elders.’ Since 1933,
Turkish elementary school students have had to repeat the pledge of
allegiance, the `Andımız,’ in which they also say, `I
offer my existence to the Turkish nation as a gift.’
The removal of the national pledge from the education system is
expected as part of the government’s democratization initiative.
25 September 2009, Friday
AYÅ?E KARABAT ANKARA