Education reform will erase traces of Feb 28: Turkish PM

Hurriyet.com.tr

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An education reform bill approved by the Turkish Parliament yesterday erased "the most important trace" of the Feb. 28 post-modern coup, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said today.

The will of the people triumphed over force and coercion in Parliament, Erdoğan said, speaking of the passing of the education reform bill, which increases mandatory education to 12 years divided into three four-year  tiers. Erdoğan spoke during the fourth general meeting of the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON).

Erdoğan said Turkish businessmen have paid the price for 11 years of uninterrupted mandatory education. He said the percentage of high schools that are vocational schools will be increased to as many as 60 percent of the total number, and children will be able to choose their own future.

On the issue of the inclusion of a course on the Quran, the Islamic holy book, as an elective in schools, Erdoğan said, "What is more beautiful than learning the Quran?  Today, through our government, this nation has attained the liberty to learn its religion to the full."

Turkey successor of Ottoman Empire

Erdoğan said that Turkey has given hope to "the poverty-stricken children in Istanbul,  the people in Van, Bingöl, Muş; Somalia, Palestine and Afghanistan. … We are not some tribal state,  we are the successors of the sublime Ottoman [state]."