Kurdish class not ‘finding many takers’

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Kurdish and Quran courses are now in curriculum with new education system. AA photo

While expressing his thoughts on the recently started education year, Education Minister Ömer Dinçer said the number of students signing up for elective Kurdish classes was below his expectations.

According to figures provided by Dinçer, 593,000 students selected mathematics, 495,000 chose foreign languages and the number of students choosing Quran lessons as electives was 479,000. Only 25,000 students selected the Foreign Languages and Dialects course, which includes classes in Kurdish and Circassian.

“I was expecting Kurdish classes to be selected more … The figures lack high school data, because the class registry results have not yielded sufficient information so far. This week we will have more secure data.”

Some 305,000 children selected classes on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, 300,000 selected Sports and Physical Activities, 259,000 selected Reading Skills, 221,000 selected Information Technologies and Software, 180,000 selected Basic Religious Knowledge, 161,000 selected Applied Sciences, 138,000 selected Intelligence Games, 101,000 selected Fine Arts, 72,000 selected Music, 68,000 students selected Authorship and Writing Skills, and 57,000 selected Drama.

“We also offered elective classes on environmental consciousness and on basic rights and law, however these classes did not receive enough interest. This is because our society does not attach the necessary importance to these issues, so it is not a matter with the kids but a matter of society,” said Dinçer.

He said about 1,285,000 students started primary schools last year, while this number has risen to 1,758,000 this year. This increase is largely because of the lowering of the school starting age. 60-66-month-olds make up around 120,000 of newly starting students, Dinçer said.

Religious schools

As of last week, the number of students registered in secondary imam-hatip schools was 109,000, Dinçer said.This year, 1,141 imam-hatip secondary schools are in operation, with 411 being official and the rest being opened individually, Dinçer said. The number of imam-hatip high schools is 703 and the number of students registered at these schools is above expectations, with 125,000 additional students being registered.

Dinçer also revealed that around 25,000 teachers had demanded to be appointed to other locations due to spouse-related concerns. “We have met 95 percent of the demands that have come so far. I would guess there are currently around 1000 to 1500 people who could not be reappointed due to spouse-related reasons. We have done our best,” Dinçer said.