No alcohol service class for Turkey’s tourism students

ANTALYA

Turkey’s National Education Council accepted a proposal to abolish a class that teaches tourism students how to serve alcoholic drinks on Dec. 5.

After adopting a proposal to increase the duration of religious education schooling and recommend compulsory Ottoman language classes, a committee of Turkey’s National Education Council has accepted a proposal to abolish a class that teaches tourism students how to serve alcoholic beverages.

Eğitim-Bir-Sen, an education sector trade union with conservative views, put forward the controversial proposal for tourism high schools, which was initially rejected in a vote in commission meetings in the southern province of Antalya on Dec. 5.

However, the proposal was accepted by the commission in a second vote in the afternoon, according to Ahmet Gündoğdu, the chair of Eğitim-Bir-Sen. Unions protesting the proposal stormed out of the meeting in the afternoon, daily Radikal reported.

The proposal will now be voted on by the General Assembly of the National Education Council on Dec. 6. If approved, it will be sent to Turkey’s National Education Ministry as an official proposal.

The president of the Touristic Hotels Operators and Investors Union, Timur Bayındır, said the move will have negative consequences for the sector if finalized. “Imam training schools or engineering schools have certain curricula for these professions. Tourism schools have their own curriculum too. This should not be interfered with,” Bayındır said.