Veli-Der Warns MEB of 'Education Collapse': The Painful Picture in Schools!

The Student Parent Association (Veli-Der) has issued a stark warning about a "collapse in education," criticizing the current system for increasingly abandoning children's right to education to market conditions. Veli-Der General Chair Ömer Yılmaz stated that public education has been regressed, weakening the principle of equal opportunity. "With every institutional step taken, education is being removed from being a common gain of society and is being turned into a commodity that is bought and sold," Yılmaz explained.

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Children's right to education is increasingly left to market conditions, public education has been regressed, and equal opportunity in education has been weakened.

Yılmaz highlighted a significant concern regarding vocational training models, particularly those associated with MESEM and industrial zones. He asserted that hundreds of thousands of children are being channeled into the cheap labor market through these programs. "Children's place is not in workplaces, but in schools," Yılmaz emphasized, arguing that the education system is being reshaped to meet the demands of capital.

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With every institutional step taken, education is being removed from being a common gain of society and is being turned into a commodity that is bought and sold.

The association also raised alarms about the declining share of public preschools while courses affiliated with the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) are increasing. Veli-Der insists that the education system must be based on the universal principles of science, not religious references. "The opening of children's educational environments to structures linked to sects and communities is an unacceptable situation in terms of the right to public education, the principle of secularism, and the best interests of children," Yılmaz concluded.

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Children's place is not in workplaces, but in schools.

The critique comes at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year, which Veli-Der describes as a period where problems accumulated over many years in the education system have intensified. The association's press conference in Kadıköy underscored the severity of the crisis, calling for a return to scientific principles and the protection of public education.

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The education system must be based on the universal principles of science, not religious references.