Main opposition leader calls for comprehensive education reform

OSMANIYE

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu speaks during a rally in the southern province of Osmaniye on Nov. 26. AA photo

The main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called on the government to engage in a comprehensive education reform that will remove the need of test prep institutions as a complement for students.
 
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) head criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s stance to close the institutions known as dershanes and turn them into private schools. 
 
“There are no families that would willingly send their child to a test prep school. But how can their child win a place in a university if the courses at schools are insufficient?” Kılıçdaroğlu said during a rally in the southern province of Osmaniye on Nov. 23, pointing to the need of a comprehensive reform in the educative system. 
 
“I’m making an open call. If you are going to restructure the educative system in a way that there won’t be any need for test prep schools, the CHP will support it,” Kılıçdaroğlu added. 
 
He also emphasized despite the government’s guarantees, many teachers working at the dershanes will face unemployment.
 
“There are around 50,000 teachers and a total of 100,000 employees [working at dershanes]. Don’t they have kids or family? We are with the victims on this issue,” he said.   
 
The step was strongly opposed by the Hizmet [Service] movement, founded by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Islamic scholar in self-exile in the United States. 
 
The movement owns many of such institutions through its media outlets, likening it to a military coup.