Boğaziçi University Faculty Member Dr. We talked to Nazlı Somel regarding our education system, the avoidance of education-related issues from public discussion, and the current state of Boğaziçi University.
“Unfortunately, the earthquake and what happened following it hit us that things were not going well either for our Republic or for our education. We have seen with all clarity that the basic mechanisms and institutions that protect public life and fundamental human rights, especially the right to life, have disappeared in Turkey.”
“These new understandings and practices also make room for all kinds of corruption and deception. For example, copying and plagiarism has now become an organized activity, both interest groups and schools are involved in this organization. What I mean is that education ceases to be a public debate, ceases to be a public right, and becomes a place where everything is permissible.”
- This year, we are talking regarding our century-old heritage in the 100th Anniversary of the Republic, on the one hand, and the destruction brought on by the Maraş-centered earthquake, on the other. What can be said regarding our education system in this historical period?
Republic and earthquake are not concepts that we often mention together, but in 2023 we learned with great devastation how the relationship between them, namely the nature of the state and the protection of the people once morest disasters, are related. Unfortunately, the earthquake and what happened following it hit us that things were not going well either for our Republic or for our education. We have seen with all clarity that the basic mechanisms and institutions that protect public life and fundamental human rights, especially the right to life, have disappeared in Turkey. Foremost among these is the deprivation of the fundamental right of citizenship, which is the legacy of the Republic, our right to follow public policies and to support or oppose them in the light of data. We do not have access to data, accurate and consistent data, or explanations of the logic of current policies. Decisions are announced to us just before or following they are implemented, and announcements are made in the form of short command sentences.
The “distance education” decision in the spring term of 2023, which is related to the earthquake and affects all universities in our country, is a very suitable example for what I want to tell. We do not have a chance to examine whether this decision really stems from a social need, for example, the need to open KYK dormitories to the service of earthquake victims. We do not know how much of the capacities of KYK dormitories are used by earthquake survivors, we do not know why other housing opportunities available by the state and the private sector are not used, we do not know what the earthquake victims’ families experience in these dormitories. What we know conflicts with the decision taken: KYK dormitories are not suitable places for families to stay for a long time, there are much more suitable places in the hands of the state and in the private sector, and on the other hand, there is a demand for face-to-face education in universities that have experienced distance education during the pandemic process. In my opinion, this policy, which is insisted on being implemented despite objections and demands to the contrary, is neither an educational issue nor a university issue, but a usurpation of citizenship rights promised by this republic. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to re-establish the Republic on this basis.
- What are the consequences of omitting education-related issues from public discussion?
A very short answer can be given to this: reaction and marketization. Today, when we look at the groups that guide educational decisions and move freely in the field of education, we can easily distinguish these two elements. It’s not once morest the nature of the business. When education is not a matter of public debate, and the historically existing mechanisms for that debate are removed, specific interest groups are much more comfortable influencing. Moreover, when educational practices can escape public scrutiny, the public almost completely loses its word on this public right. These control mechanisms were, for example, the Board of Education, Education Councils; At this point, we see that in the last education council, the decision on giving religious education in pre-school education was taken by voting as an item that was added later, contrary to the conventions of the Council. Another control mechanism was that education expenditures were subject to public control. We can give the Fatih Project as an example of the consequences of its disappearance. It is possible to say similar things for almost all of the education decisions taken recently.
Of course, not all social segments are affected in the same way by this situation. At this point, we see the effects of social inequalities. For example, the children of poor families attend institutions other than the formal education institutions affiliated to the Ministry of National Education, such as the institutions opened by the Diyanet for young children. Some of these families send their children because they are conservative, but a significant part of them point to the lack of public care services that they can send their children to and afford as an alternative.
Preventing education from being a public debate is closely related to its re-establishment as an individual investment rather than a public right. Our education system has become an area where everyone invests and competes to put themselves, their group or their children one step ahead. There are those who earn money from here, and there are those who have to mortgage their whole life to educate their children. These new understandings and practices also make room for all kinds of corruption and deception. For example, copying and plagiarism has now become an organized activity, both interest groups and schools are involved in this organization. What I mean is that education ceases to be a public debate, it ceases to be a public right, and it becomes a field where everything is permissible.
- Boğaziçi University, where you work, has actually become a public debate, right? What is the latest situation at your university?
Yes, this happened thanks to the honorable staff of our university, and it might only be done at a cost. Our students face investigations and judicial processes, for example. These costs ranged from dismissal of our Resistance teachers to sever their ties with the school, not taking them to the campus, investigations and finally preventing them by controlling online communication channels. In the process that started with the appointment of a rector at Boğaziçi University, we also saw how right it was for academics and students to discuss this as a major problem and to warn the public regarding what would follow. Currently, commissions are not employed at our university, research centers are closed and staff are recruited. Maybe you followed the media last week, the care center for the elderly and disabled stray animals cared for on campus was disbanded, when the process works like this, no living thing can escape.
It is possible to connect everything that happened regarding the Bosphorus to the subject that I tried to say from the very beginning. What is the harm in the functioning of commissions in a university, the fact that the relevant departments play a leading role in recruiting new faculty members and do this in accordance with the needs of the field, equality and merit? Only for some interest groups. When such decision processes exist and decision-making responsibilities are shared, it becomes very difficult to operate the system for the benefit of certain groups.
During the process we lived in our school, we experienced this closely. All these events are a source of decay in our people. For example, some of the people who applied to vacancies opened in our departments without our knowledge and were appointed through legal and illegitimate means express a very simple logic: “If it weren’t for me, it would be someone else, I took the opportunity”. It is striking that such opportunism is so easily embraced and expressed. Especially by scientists. In other words, the destruction of the mechanisms of the Republic, marketism and individualism, as we know it, abolished both the citizen and the intellectual. We need to re-create a publicist culture.
- You are working at K12 level in formal education institutions and training teachers, what do you observe in our teacher candidates and teachers?
Unfortunately, teachers in Turkey have become unable to speak up regarding their profession, working conditions and the rights of their students. However, the most important thing I see in schools and our students is that if we can still see good examples today, it is thanks to honorable people and young people who want to make a meaningful contribution to Turkey’s future. We can see the effects of future uncertainty and desperation among these groups as well. The last formation decision taken by YÖK, for example, pushed our students, who are studying in education faculties, into despair. For example, we do not know by whom and why this decision was taken. Also, what effect it will have, apart from the fact that more new teachers will join the teachers who are currently working in the private sector for very low wages and that the wages will fall in favor of the school owners. For example, such a decision might only be taken following a public debate regarding our teacher training system, in a functioning republic. For example, in the education policy course I give regularly, students choose what they want from current education policies to research throughout the semester and often have difficulty in finding tangible data, reports and explanations. We are left with evaluating the consequences of these policies.
Students who come to Boğaziçi University are those who are successful in the test exams. A situation that students frequently mention is that high school teachers try to prevent them from choosing the teaching profession. Our students convey what their teachers say regarding the working conditions, salary and social prestige of the profession. It’s very painful. Teaching is obviously not a “career” profession, and it cannot be. When our education operates as a free market, teaching becomes another profession that only does its job in the narrowest sense, is not allowed to interfere with anything more, and is not rewarded for its hard work. This has rapidly changed in the last 10 years in the private sector, and now the process is being accelerated for teachers working in public schools.
Dear teacher, thank you for your valuable information. Türkiye for All of Us, Education for All of Us…
