Teachers’ to protest against new clothing

ANKARA

A teachers’ union announced on Monday that their members will stage disobedience action across the country on Dec. 5 to protest the use of religious symbols at schools.

The Education and Science Personnel Union (Eğitim-Sen) Ünsal Yıldız said 4,000 members of the union would go to classes with tracksuits on Wednesday, stressing that democratic and liberated life and education cannot exist without secularism.

New anti-secular practices are being implemented in the education system every day and the aim of such practices is to create polarization in society, Yıldız said at a press conference.

Emphasizing that their activity was not aimed at promoting free dress codes at schools, Yıldız said the action was instead intended to “oppose the use of religious symbols in public zones.”

The decision to take such action by Eğitim-Sen comes days after the Education Ministry abolished on Nov. 27 the nationwide monotype uniform requirement in schools and lifted the headscarf ban for religious imam-hatip schools, prompting fierce criticism from opposition parties, unions and educators.