15 students in Kumluca imam hatip school in Turkey’s Bartın were exposed to violence by the school principal for not praying. After the incident, some students received the report of assault proving that they were exposed to physical violence, while parents of the students have filed charges against the school principal.
It is claimed that the school management and the authorities from the National Education have forced the parents to drop the charges against the school principal.
Making a statement regarding the incident, Sedat Bora, who is the Branch Chairperson of Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim-Sen), reacted the school principal’s violence against the students.
Saying that the relevant school gives students reactionary and anti-scientific education within the framework of the protocol signed by the Ministry of National Education (MEB) and the Hizmet Foundation, a pro-government Sunni Islamist cult in Turkey, Bora stated, "The students are taught the books of Said Nursi [a Kurdish Sunni Islamist, anti-secular figure who lived in early years of the Republic of Turkey] by imams affiliated to the Hizmet religious cult in student dorms under the guise of ‘organizing study groups', while these imams impose delusive doctrines on students and preach superstitions."
"Under the protocol signed by the MEB, the pro-government jihadist organization the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Reliefİ (İHH) visits public high schools in Bartın and propagates anti-secular and anti-scientific superstitions in order to promote its ‘aid campaign'".
Bora also stated that IHH is allowed to practice its own 'rules' in these meetings held in schools' halls, while it violates the mixed-sex education principle.
Underlining that educational workers of Eğitim-Sen will continue to struggle against anti-secular and anti-scientific practices in schools in Turkey, Bora noted, "We will not allow students to be subjected to violence for whatever reason".
"It is unacceptable for a school principal to inflict violence against students for not praying", Bora concluded his statement.
