Nationalist youth group offers controversial summer courses in Turkish state schools

State schools in Turkey are offering summer courses in collaboration with the Ülkü Ocakları, the youth wing of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The programs, which include seemingly unrelated subjects like horse riding, welding, and anger management alongside Quranic studies and chess, have drawn sharp criticism from educators and unions.

The Ministry of National Education's partnerships with various associations, foundations, and religious communities have been a subject of public debate. The Ülkü Ocakları's initiative to run courses in state schools under the guise of "summer schools" has been particularly scrutinized.

In Nevşehir, courses are advertised in conjunction with the Ülkü Ocakları and a public education center, offering training in horse riding, hygiene, and gas welding, alongside Quranic studies and intelligence games. In Sivas, an "Anger Management Course" is being offered, promising instruction in anger definition, emotional regulation, and communication skills. This offering in Sivas, a city with a history of social division and violence, has been called a stark contradiction.

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We don't know whether to cry or laugh at the state of education now; one cannot decide.

Serkan Bebek, General Education Secretary of the All Teachers' Union (TÖBSEN), described the courses as an "ideological siege" on education. He stated that the primary role of public education is to provide scientific, secular, and contemporary instruction. Bebek criticized the Ministry of National Education for opening public education to the influence of political and ideological groups through various protocols, questioning the quality of education.

Bebek also commented on the absurdity of the Nevşehir courses, suggesting their unrelated topics were not about educational policy but rather about enabling specific organizations to reach more students through schools. He argued that the goal is not equal opportunity but rather to recruit new members for these groups.

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The common point of these unrelated topics is not educational policy; it is protocols that enable specific structures to reach more students through schools.