Saadet Party leader Temel Karamollaoğlu shared his party's training report titled “Determination, Diagnosis and Recommendations Regarding Education” at a press conference held at Balgat Education Center.
Karamollaoğlu, highlights from his speech:
The greatest wealth of a country is neither natural gas, oil, plane, nor ship. The greatest wealth of a country is its youth, its young population. If youth is a gem, the process in which that ore will be processed is the education system.
The same power, the same understanding has ruled the country for 18 years. But in 18 years, the system changed 7 times in education, and almost 77 times. All of the changed ministers started their duty by criticizing the previous system and saying that it would bring a new system. Result? It's all disappointment. All ended in disappointment.
Every system they brought as a reform has waxed the previous one. The weirdness is that; those who do and complain themselves… Children are run from one test to the next like horse racing. They just can't get ready for life without getting ready for exams.
As the Felicity Party, we consider national education as the primary issue of our country and we believe that the steps to be taken in this regard should be handled with a supra-political approach, taking into account the survival of our country.
Felicity Party as 1 August to 17 September 2020, between 1,333 students residing in 81 cities in Turkey, 1,197 teachers, we conducted a field study with a total of 3863 people, including 1,333 parents.
About 3 out of 4 of our citizens state that the education system has worsened compared to the past.
At this point, as the Felicity Party, we want to present our 21-point Education Manifesto, which includes our basic determinations, diagnoses and suggestions in the field of National Education, to our nation and convey it to the authorities.
1. Quality rather than quantity should be given importance in education.
2. A quality curriculum and education method should be created to prepare our children for life and the future, not for the exam.
3. Inequality of opportunity in education should be eliminated or minimized.
4. Quality education should be taken out of the privilege of those who can afford it and should be spread throughout the society.
5. Technical, technological, physical facilities and class sizes of schools should be made suitable for qualified education.
6. Merit should be based on merit in appointments made at all levels of education, especially at management levels.
7. The quality of a country's education is directly proportional to the qualifications of its teachers. Serious steps should be taken to train qualified teachers that our country needs.
8. Teachers' salaries and personal rights should urgently be rearranged so that teachers can work in dignity and fulfill their duties with enthusiasm.
9. The enactment of the Teaching Profession Law and the promised 3600 Additional Indicator issues should be brought to the agenda and resolved immediately.
10. The reputation lost by public schools should be regained with appropriate reforms and the quality of support / training courses given in schools should be increased.
11. The planning of Imam Hatip High Schools should be made in consideration of the needs. The quality and quality of education should be increased not only in selected ones but also in all Imam Hatip High Schools.
12. Vocational high schools should be planned considering the needs of the relevant sectors and the quality of education in vocational high schools should be increased both professionally and academically.
13. Against pandemics and similar emergencies, effective, efficient and reassuring plans on distance education and other education models should be urgently made and implemented by strengthening the infrastructure of the education system.
14. Trust in the Education System by parents, students and teachers is very low. An unreliable system cannot survive or be beneficial; Therefore, steps to build trust in the education system should be taken swiftly.
15. It is important to build a realistic and feasible system that is far from political populism and all the building blocks of the education system.
16. All distinctions between teachers such as paid, permanent and contractual should be eliminated. All teachers should be employed on a permanent basis.
17. Teacher performance should be measured continuously with objective criteria.
18. The education system should be relieved of the stress of exams.
19. An examination system should be introduced that will enable students to chase knowledge and truth, not test questions.
20. Purpose in education; To provide our students with the knowledge and skills to compete with their peers in the international arena. Preparing them for life professionally and academically should be able to raise them as an individual equipped with moral and human values.
21. The problems of our education system are not superficial; is rooted and chronic. Therefore, the measures to be taken should not be dressing measures to save the day, but should be radical, permanent and bold reforms with the participation of all stakeholders.
We, as the Felicity Party, declare that we are ready to give all kinds of support to any effort to be made in this direction for the future of our children and youth and the bright future of our country.