Pressure on Teachers to Choose: Pick a School or Face Compulsory Assignment

Teachers in Ankara’s Mamak district are being asked to make additional assignment choices while an existing reassignment process has yet to conclude. The district education directorate has reportedly requested preferences for five schools, despite the fact that the objection period for the ongoing process has not ended.

The request applies to teachers classified as surplus in staffing or local needs. If no position exists in a teacher’s own subject area, they are also being asked to choose another branch. Teachers who cannot secure an assignment in their field could then be placed compulsorily, according to the information reported.

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While a process that will be finalized in a few days is already underway, putting the same teacher into two separate processes creates uncertainty and makes it harder for teachers to exercise their right to choose properly.

The overlapping procedures have drawn criticism from Eğitim Sen. Sibel Gökçe Evci, secretary of the union’s Ankara No. 1 branch, said the arrangement leaves teachers facing uncertainty just days before the first process is expected to conclude.

“While a process that will be finalized in a few days is already underway, putting the same teacher into two separate processes creates uncertainty and makes it harder for teachers to exercise their right to choose properly,” Evci said. “Teachers’ workplaces cannot be determined through uncertainty and anxiety. The timetable announced by the ministry should be respected; the possibility of compulsory assignment must not be turned into a tool that forces teachers to make choices they do not want.”

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Teachers’ workplaces cannot be determined through uncertainty and anxiety. The timetable announced by the ministry should be respected; the possibility of compulsory assignment must not be turned into a tool that forces teachers to make choices they do not want.