Nearly 15 million students started their holidays on 22 January by completing the first half of 2009-2010 education-training year which will continue until 18th June. The same day Minister of National Education Nimet Çubukçu declared that 2 thousand 194 children are victims of violence during 2008-2009 education-training year.
Minister of National Education Nimet Çubukçu, in her response to the formal question of CHP Adana Deputy Nevin Gaye Erbatur about the events of violence in the schools, declared that in 2008-2009 education-training year 2 thousand 194 children were victims of violence. Minister Çubukçu told that every kind of complaints and demands of the students victimized by violence and their parents are being evaluated.
Çubukçu who stated that, under the “Strategy and Action Plan on Prevention and Alleviation of Violence in Educational Environments 2006-2011” which is run by her Ministry since April 2006, they follow up the events of violence occurring in the schools and told the following in her response:
“It is possible to make complaints to the related school directorates, district national education directorates, district governors, provincial national education directorates, governors, public prosecution and our ministry. Also in the case of application to the BİMER of our Ministry where all kinds of complaints and demands of the students victimized by violence or their parents by e-mail, the demands are evaluated and finalized and information is given to the owner of the complaint about the result.”
(hurriyet.com.tr, 23 January 2010)
The news that is published in Birgün newspaper on 25 January, titled, “What a violence teacher!”, reported that 170 students who applied to Van Branch of Eğitim-Sen (trade union of the teachers) are alleging to be subjected to violence in the last year by their school authorities. The news is as the following:
What a violence teacher!”
The complaints about application of violence against the students by the teachers in Turkey reached its peak in Van. 170 students who applied Van Branch of Eğitim-Sen (trade union of the teachers) alleged that they are subjected to “violence” in the last year by their school authorities. Lezgin Botan, Chairperson of Van Branch of Eğitim-Sen says: “It is striking that the students who applied are especially the children of the peasants who migrated after the evacuation of their villages. Special approach is required for these students. But there are teachers who think that beating comes from the heaven. Education is an affair of affection. If there is not affection, even if you are a philosopher teacher this does not work”.
Beating students are forbidden is 1930
According to the “Law about the Promotion and Punishment of the Teachers of Primary and Secondary Education” taking place in the internet website of the Ministry of National Education, the administrators of the education institutions are prohibited to use violence against the students. The law about the prohibition has the date of 10 June 1930. But in Van in the last one year under pretexts of “racism”, “wearing traditional Kurdish scarves”, “not knowing Turkish” etc. 170 students were subjected to violence by the administrators.
There is everything in the pretext of violence!
According to the information that are collected from the application of the students in Van Branch of Eğitim-Sen the main reasons to be subjected to violence are as the following:
» Racist attitudes of some ultra-nationalist teachers in the schools. Violence used for the students’ reactions against the words of some ultra-nationalist teachers such as “you are dirty people, you will not become man”.
» Children whose mother tongue is Kurdish cannot communicate with the administrators since they do not know Turkish good enough. The student who cannot tell the problems is often subjected to violence.
» Families victimized by migration cannot pay the school bus fees of their children. For this reason the students constantly come late to the school and subjected to the administrators’ violence.
» When the students who wear traditional scarf react to the imposition of the administrators such as “traditional scarves are forbidden” they are subjected to violence.
» Being subjected to violence due to the reactions that the students show because of oppression arising from poverty.
» The children victimized by migration and who are in the high school cannot shave since sometimes they cannot find money for the serious economic conditions. And this is also seen as a reason to use violence by the school administrators against the students.
» Non awareness of the families is also an important factor. Students using violence against students, when the parents are called to the school the students are beaten for their negative behavior and the parents are demanded to warn the student.
The students for this reason are often subjected to their families’ violence in addition to the violence of the administrators.
"There are teachers who think that beating comes from the heaven"
Lezgin Botan, Chairperson of Van Branch of Eğitim-Sen, said that children are subjected to violence under the framework of “providing discipline in the schools” despite it is forbidden to use violence against the students. Botan said, the family of the beaten student is convinced by various pretexts by the administrators and for this reason the families do not bring the cases to the courts. Botan said that it is striking that especially the children of the families which migrated are subjected to violence, and told: “We can talk about two typologies of administrators in the schools. There is a big difference in between the profile of a teacher who tries to convince the student by dialogue, and the typology of the hard faced teacher who does not see the student as a correspondent, with the mind of a classic civil servant. There are teachers who think that beating comes from the heaven. Education is an affair of affection. If there is not affection, even if you are a philosopher teacher this does not work.”
(birgun.net, 25 January 2010)