Controversial bill seeking to remove dershanes, schools that help students prepare for their high school and university entrance exams, was passed by Parliament late on Friday night after much political wrangling and even scuffles between ruling party deputies and lawmakers from the opposition parties.
Despite political bickering between parties and strong opposition from civil society groups, the government pushed for the bill that introduces broad changes to deal with systemic woes in education system.
Removal of prep schools, however, remains an unsettled dispute, with opponents to the bill say that without elimination of central university entrance exam, the move will hamper high school students' plans to be eligible for universities as socio-economic gap between families find its expression in exam results.
The bill, if approved by president, will deepen that gap, critics say about the removal of dershanes.
The government's initial moves to shut down prep schools late last year escalated those tensions ahead of March 30 municipal election, seen as a critical test of support for Erdoğan after 11 years in power.
Education is central to the Hizmet movement's mission. Hizmet’s respected prep schools help spread influence across a nationwide network.
The movement, who preaches respect for science, democracy and dialog with other faiths, has forged a powerful socio-religious community network active. Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who says he has no plans to form a political party, denies any involvement in the graft investigation.
Erdoğan has said that abolishing the prep schools is part of a larger reform of an "unhealthy" educational system that ranks Turkey below the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average in literacy, maths and science.
The law allows some of the prep schools to become private schools, giving them free access to properties that belong to the
Published on Today's Zaman, 01 March 2014, Saturday
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