Turkey's Secular Education System,
Its Structure, Putrescence and True Purpose

The Turkish Republic hit its major blow in rooting Islamic values out of its people through secularising its education system. The 'Law on Unification of Education' implemented from March 3, 1924 was an essential move towards 'modernizing', i.e. 'secularizing' Turkey's cultural life, and thus is the name of the largest reformation in the Republic. Education and schooling received its national and secular character with this law, while abolishing the Madrasas and 'mekteps' (schools), which were under the management of the Shaikh al-Islam in the Ottoman education system.

This law was constantly followed by new laws enabling secular, modern and so-called 'scientific' education. The current education system was outlined through the Law about the Institution of Education on March 2, 1926, which defined certain principles for primary, secondary and tertiary education, demanded state permission for the opening of schools, and determined the kind and method of curricula to be taught at schools. This law also removed lessons like Tafseer, history of Tafseer, Hadith and history of Hadith, history of Fiqh, and history of Kelam (Islamic theology) from the curriculum, and adapted the mixed-gender education principle. Legal changes from 1925-1935 led to the adaption of the Gregorian calendar instead of the Hijri calendar, the modern clock system instead of the Adhani system (organizing the day according the prayer call times), the Latin digits system instead of the Arabic numerals; and to the implementation of European units of measurement and holidays. Weekend holidays were changed from Friday to Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

Article 2 of the Republic's Constitution stated, "The Turkish State's religion is Islam". On April 10, 1928, however; this rule was removed, and subsequently followed by the removal of the Arabic letters and the adaptation of the Latin alphabet. In a single night an entire nation was bereft its literacy in the full sense of the word.

According to the articles in the Turkish National Education Basic Law the 'general aim of education is to raise all individuals of the Turkish Nation to citizens, who are loyal to Ataturk's revolution and principles, who know and embrace as a behaviour their duties and responsibilities towards the democratic and secular Republic of Turkey, which is a state of law'. (Article 2) Also the aim is 'to realize and maintain a strong and stable, free and democratic society' (Article 11). 'Secularism is fundamental in Turkish national education.' (Article 12) Education is 'scientific/academic' (Article 13). 'Co-education of girls and boys is fundamental in schools.' (Article 15)

In brief, for over 90 years, this copycat secular education system based upon Western principles and doctrine did not aim at anything else but creating a generation disconnected from its Islamic past, shaped upon Western personalities and linked to Islam only as an entry in their identity cards. Thus anything regarding Islam, with the exception of the religion lessons, was eradicated from the curricula. Examining the issues treated under the title ‘religion lesson’, it is observed that there is no link whatsoever to the truth of Islam. In contrary, the aim to induce a secular concept of religion, chiming with the official secular ideology, is blatant.

Today, teaching in the Imam-Hatip schools and faculties of theology, which claim to offer Islamic education, is limited to personal ibadaat (worship) and ethics, while indoctrinating secular creeds, and ignoring Islamic concepts. Islam is handled as an academic discipline and reduced to history and philosophy. Instead of equipping children with knowledge that fosters their Islamic personalities, they are given a few Ayat and Ahadith related to ethics and Aqeedah to be learned by heart and to be forgotten after the exams.

The curriculum of other classes alongside the religion lessons imposes concepts contrary to the Islamic view and creed. For example, the Darwin Theory of Evolution is still taught in biology, although it is an obvious blasphemy (Kufr) according to Islam. Autopsies are carried out in medical colleges. Faculties of law teach Western law as supreme, negating the fact that the Shariah law alone is superior to any other forms of legislation. Riba-based capitalist economics, which is diametrically opposed to the economy policies of Islam, is taught in economy classes. In the view of the interest and tax based capitalist economic system resources are scarce, while needs are unlimited.

Meeting the needs of the individual is not among the goals of capitalist economy unlike in Islam. Its only goal is to produce goods and services. However, it leaves the satisfaction of the basic and surplus needs to the individuals themselves, while only focussing directly on the increase of the national income and level of production in the country. Such an understanding of economics results in the enrichment of capital owners and increasing poverty among the vast majority of the population. Still, this regressive capitalist economic system is taught as the only valid system in the world that has no alternative other than communist economics, which has already failed, while completely ignoring the existence of the Islamic economic system that already proven its success upon every soil it entered throughout history.

Alongside this, history lessons present the slander of Islam and Muslim leaders of the past as true facts, thus disconnecting the youth from their history, their past and their ancestors as well as creating hatred and shame for their great Islamic heritage and culture. Philosophy lessons teach heretical opinions and doctrines, thus polluting young minds. Psychology and sociology are handled as sciences, thus intermingling rational thinking and scientific thinking and promoting false conclusions about human nature which contradict Islam. Psychology, for example instills the idea that any misbehaviour or failure of the human (like homosexuality or ever spreading depressions) is just a malfunction of the brain, and not the result of false or harmful concepts and inclinations, which Islam is able to cure, moreover to prevent. The result is a youth, entrapped between two ways of life, and deprived of worldly and eternal adequate and healthy provisions; a youth that is bereft of its academic achievements and of becoming worthy servants of Allah (swt).

This education model, focussed on secularizing the people, is completely distracting the Muslim youth from an Islamic perspective and instead promoting a Western way of life. By importing and copying the Western lifestyle, the Turkish Republic contaminated the Muslim society with the same illnesses that infected the Western societies due to their values and lifestyle. The co-education system alone constitutes a problem itself. While even many schools in the West prefer a single-sex education due to academic failure triggered by co-education, Turkey still insists on this principle of co-education simply out of secular ideological reasons. Sexual relationships or even fights out of jealousy as a result of emotional intimacy between boys and girls are unfortunately commonplace across Turkey's schools. Murders or suicides in schools due to these reasons are frequently in the news. The Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen) published a report titled "Sexism in Education Report 2015", which showed that schools are a primary place for violence against girls and women, and that schools are places where gender inequalities and violence happen most. Another survey also conducted by Eğitim-Sen revealed that 13% of all students who took part in the survey stated that they experienced physical attacks and that 54% of these attacks were conducted by gangs within the school. Alongside this, 90.8% of the students were determined as addicts to TV series. In October this year, another scandal emerged in Turkey, exemplifying the dimension of prostitution amongst school age children. It was discovered that a 17-year-old girl in the city of Tekirdağ, trafficked 13-year-old school girls to older men for money.

Furthermore, the increasing drug and alcohol abuse problem is affecting even 10 year olds. Each year almost 230,000 patients apply for drug treatment. 25% of them are aged 12-14, and more than 17% are aged 11 or younger. 8% of substance abusers in the group of 15-18 years lost their lives, while 1.2% of those younger than 15 died. These are only those cases which reached police units. Moreover, data from Turkish Statistical Institute revealed that each year almost 115,000 children were brought to police units charged with crimes like theft, selling or buying drugs or narcotic substances, property damage, threats of violence or engaging in actual violence.

While the occurring cases and figures of such tragic social and immoral problems reach more terrible forms and dimensions day by day, the Turkish state still insists on a secular education system in this country, whose people are Muslims. Furthermore, this educational system receives financial support, grants, loans and scholarships from the West. Study abroad programs like the Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig, Youth Program and Jean Monnet Program, are also serving this purpose. Every year institutions like the EU, UNICEF, and the World Bank spend billions of dollars and euros through grants programs like the MEDA and MATRA for this purpose in Turkey. These programs only infuse the idea that the West is advanced, and that a developed future can only be achieved through a Western style of education and life.

This is only a brief view of all the cascading problems caused by this secular education system implemented for more than 90 years. Additionally, the failure of the provided education in leading to academic success is proven by the annual PISA and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) results. Fourth and eighth-grade mathematics and fourth-grade science scores are below the TIMSS average. According to PISA results (measuring reading, maths and science skills among 15-year-olds) Turkey declined even further in comparison to prior years, ranking second from last among 35 OECD countries. PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) do not provide a better result. This test is applied among the age range 16-65.

Turkey ranks 31 among 34 OECD countries, third from last, in literacy. The same result is in numeracy... And in the last part of the test, titled 'problem solving in technology-rich environments'; Turkey ranks last. The results of all tests prove a general and spreading inferiority in Turkey's education.

In conclusion, the main goal of this secular system's secular education is to prevent the raising of Islamic personalities with the true viewpoint in life. The reason for this is as plain as day: The secular Turkey's secular education system is working to divert the Muslims from seeing Islam as an ideology, and from realizing that this republic was only established in order to serve the interests of the western colonialist powers who shackled the Muslim Ummah. This is because, a people who is able of luminary thinking will start questioning the existing system, realize the discrepancy between the existing system and its beliefs, and eventually will desire to replace this system with the ruling system of Islam, the Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashidah (Caliphate) upon the Method of Prophethood... This is because only the system defined by Allah (swt) and the laws and practices implemented by it, will cure the illnesses that have befallen the Muslims and the whole of mankind, bred by Western ruling and life style. Is there any greater threat to the perpetuity of a secular state than this???

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Zehra Malik