Turkey’s Education Ministry to introduce new curriculum based on ‘national values’

Turkey’s Education Minister Yusuf Tekin announced they would introduce a renewed national curriculum built on “Turkish values.” The curriculum would be revealed soon, announced the minister.

Duvar English

Turkey’s Education Minister Yusuf Tekin on Feb. 3 announced the ministry would soon introduce a renewed national curriculum built on “Turkish values,” during a meeting with school teachers in the capital Ankara province.  

“The curriculum should be dynamic, and respond to the fast-changing needs of the world,” stated the minister according to reporting by Demirören News Agency (DHA). He continued, “We completed studies for an education system of our own, that is built on our values and illuminated by our guidepost morals.” 

Tekin also listed policies the ministry took in the earthquake region, and commemorated the victims days before the first anniversary of the disaster. 

Critics met the proposed curriculum with hesitancy, as the Ministry consistently increased religion courses, and collaborated with Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate in recent years. Minister Tekin had defended the ministry’s protocols with Islamic cults and organizations. 

The ministry has also been assigning imams and preachers to schools across the country as part of the special protocol under the project named “I am sensitive to my environment, I claim my values.”