FEM prep schools file complaint against Ministry of Education employees

A lawyer representing FEM prep schools in the province of Zonguldak has filed a criminal complaint against employees of the Ministry of Education and the Zonguldak Provincial Directorate for National Education on the grounds that they failed to implement a top court's ruling, the lawyer said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the press in front of the Zonguldak Courthouse, Burhan Temel Çınar stated that the employees in question did not accept written applications to continue operation the schools had sent, and refused to sign new contracts for teachers currently employed there. “That employees of the Ministry of Education refused to accept these applications violates the Constitution. This is an arbitrary, illegal practice. We have therefore filed a criminal complaint,” Çınar stated.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's bill ordering the closure of privately owned university preparatory schools was passed in Parliament on March 7, 2014, and signed into law by then-President Abdullah Gül. The law mandated that these schools be shut down by Sept. 1, 2015. The Republican People's Party (CHP) opposed the law, arguing that it dealt a blow to the right to free enterprise and filed an appeal for annulment with the Constitutional Court last year.

On July 13, the court announced its long-awaited decision to annul the controversial law on the grounds that it violated the right to education as well as that of free enterprise.

Published on Today's Zaman, 2 September 2015, Wednesday