Education minister’s remark draws reaction
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Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 22, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Education experts weighed in on the new education minister’s remark suggesting the possible removal of the student oath, which concludes with the phrase "How happy is he who can say I am a Turk," with some speaking of the phrase's negative effects on minorities and others.
Responding to a student’s question on a television program week, Nimet Çubukçu said the removal of the student oath could be open for discussion. Çubukçu yesterday clarified the issue, saying she did not make a decision on the issue, but she simply said the issue could be discussed.
The student oath, which was written in 1933 by then Education Minister Reşit Galip, has been read by students every morning since then. In 1972, modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s phrase "Ne mutlu Türküm diyene" (How happy is he who can say I am a Turk) was included in the oath.
Zübeyde Kılıç, chairman of the Education Personnel Union, or Eğitim-Sen, said it was wrong for children to repeat the same phrase every day as the phrase began to lose its meaning, turning into an ordinary sentence.
"Recently the Kurdish issue has been on the agenda, and some initiatives have been discussed. The psychological impacts on Kurdish students from repeating the phrase, ’How happy is he who can say I am a Turk’ should be well assessed," Kılıç said. "Children don’t become happy by saying the phrase. They would become happy if a [better] socioeconomic climate could be created," Kılıç said.
No right to discuss
İsmail Koncuk, chairman of the Union of Education and Scientific Workers, or Türk Eğitim-Sen, said nobody had the right to discuss such an issue and that the issue should not be made a matter of discussion just because the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, was disturbed.
"Removing the phrase would mean being disturbed with the Anatolian people. Who is disturbed with the phrase? The separatists," Koncuk said. "Çubukçu is a new minister. She should correct the situation."
Ahmet Gündoğdu, chairman of teachers' union Egitim-Bir-Sen, said it was not an appropriate approach to reduce the deep-rooted problems of Turkey’s education system to the student oath. "There are problems that concern 14 million students and 800,000 education personnel," he said. "There is no use in ignoring these problems but discussing the oath."
The student oath, which was written in 1933 by then Education Minister Reşit Galip, has been read by students every morning since then. In 1972, modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s phrase "Ne mutlu Türküm diyene" (How happy is he who can say I am a Turk) was included in the oath.
Zübeyde Kılıç, chairman of the Education Personnel Union, or Eğitim-Sen, said it was wrong for children to repeat the same phrase every day as the phrase began to lose its meaning, turning into an ordinary sentence.
"Recently the Kurdish issue has been on the agenda, and some initiatives have been discussed. The psychological impacts on Kurdish students from repeating the phrase, ’How happy is he who can say I am a Turk’ should be well assessed," Kılıç said. "Children don’t become happy by saying the phrase. They would become happy if a [better] socioeconomic climate could be created," Kılıç said.
No right to discuss
İsmail Koncuk, chairman of the Union of Education and Scientific Workers, or Türk Eğitim-Sen, said nobody had the right to discuss such an issue and that the issue should not be made a matter of discussion just because the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, was disturbed.
"Removing the phrase would mean being disturbed with the Anatolian people. Who is disturbed with the phrase? The separatists," Koncuk said. "Çubukçu is a new minister. She should correct the situation."
Ahmet Gündoğdu, chairman of teachers' union Egitim-Bir-Sen, said it was not an appropriate approach to reduce the deep-rooted problems of Turkey’s education system to the student oath. "There are problems that concern 14 million students and 800,000 education personnel," he said. "There is no use in ignoring these problems but discussing the oath."