The courses on ‘preparing alcoholic beverages and cocktails’ were removed from the curricula of vocational high schools of tourism and hotel management in Turkey, according to the new curriculum announced on July 18 by the Minister of National Education İsmet Yılmaz.
The liquor service class was mandatory in the "bar" and "service" sections of the 11th and 12th grades of vocational high schools that specialise in hotel management and tourism.
A pro-government education sector trade union, Eğitim Bir-Sen, known for its generally reactionary views, had lodged a petition to the Education Ministry’s Council on Education and Morality to change the alcoholic beverages service class from mandatory to elective.
THE GEZİ RESISTANCE WILL BE DISPRAISED
Within the context of the unit, which will examine the developments in Turkey after 1990, students will be taught certain topics such as "the purposes and targets of internal and external forces behind the Gezi Park incidents in 2013 and the effects of these incidents to Turkey", and "the aim of the parallel state structure Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ/PDY), as well as its role in 17-25 December (AKP’s corruption scandals in 2013) and the July 15 coup attempt in 2016".
Criticising the new curriculum, Turkey’s Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen) has stated, "the government has politically and ideologically waged a war against science and enlightenment by the intervention of inner circles of political power with the new curricula in Turkey. For this purpose, a curriculum has been set, largely based on 'national' and 'religious' elements and references."
Eğitim-Sen also said that evolution has been sacrificed on the project of "raising religious and vindictive generations" carried into effect by the AKP government especially following its reactionary educational system. In the statement, it is also noted that "Turkey has directly sided against the universal values of science in education, and has shown that it is in the same league as Saudi Arabia."
