School textbooks to be used in the north in the upcoming academic year have been criticised by teachers for containing “non-secular” content.
Rifat Can, a geography teacher based in the Trikomo district, brought the issue to light, highlighting pages from a second-grade Turkish textbook and a fourth-grade social studies textbook.
In the Turkish textbook, a “teacher” is depicted as a woman wearing a hijab, while the social studies textbook lists India and Palestine as “examples of family relations in different countries”.
Can criticised the choice of India and Palestine, saying “these are being described because of their high birth rate, male-dominated family structures, and the fact that brides to be cannot have rights without having children”.
He also pointed out that the book mentions the fact that marriages are often arranged.
He vowed to “continue to be a follower and defender of modern education criteria, committed to the principles of secularism”.
He added that “it should not be forgotten that the TRNC’s constitution’s commitment to secularism and Ataturk’s principles have been clearly stated”.
In addition, he asked “by whom and how was such a curriculum approved? What do government officials, the Education ministry, and especially opposition parties think about this?”.
Elsewhere, European University of Lefke professor Ahmet Guneyli, who also advises the north’s ‘education ministry’’s commission on textbooks, said he had no prior knowledge of those pages, and called on schools to reject the textbooks.
He said a request he made to evaluate the books was not answered before the books went to press, and that “the content of the books has been arbitrarily changed, and some additions and deletions have been made”.
He complained that his name had been left in the book, slamming the move as “unethical”.
He added that there are more issues in the textbook than just religious imagery, saying “there are serious pedagogical problems”.
“Do not send textbooks to the schools, and no not use them if they are sent”, he said.
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