Minister Says Unconverted Prep Schools Can Continue To Operate

Education Minister Nabi Avcı has guaranteed that any dershane – a university preparation school -- that has not yet been transformed into a private high school as stipulated in a controversial law annulled by the Constitutional Court last month may continue to operate.

After meeting with representatives of prep schools and lawyers to discuss the top court's annulment of the controversial Law No. 6528 concerning the National Education Law on Tuesday, Avcı said that the government has decided to introduce a new circular to fill the legal vacuum caused by the nullification of the law. Avcı added that the planned circular, to be introduced within a week, will allow those prep schools that have not yet been converted into high schools to continue to operate as preparatory schools.

In 2014, a total of 80 prep schools became private high schools. To assist them with the transition period, the ministry offered incentives of as much as TL 3,000 per student to standard high schools and TL 3,500 per student to private schools on a monthly basis, with an annual total budget of TL 5.7 million. Now there is uncertainty over whether these state incentives will continue.

On July 13, the Constitutional Court announced its long-awaited decision on the law closing prep schools that was passed by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, ruling to annul it by a majority 12-5 vote on the grounds that the law represented a violation of constitutional articles related to the right to education and free enterprise.

In November 2013, the ruling AK Party decided to shut down -- or “transform,” as the government argues -- the private prep schools, stirring a massive debate and attracting huge criticism from families and education representatives. The AK Party's bill was put to a vote and passed by Parliament in March 2014 before being signed into law by then-President Abdullah Gül. The law, which states that prep schools will be allowed to operate until Sept. 1, 2015, was challenged by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) at the Constitutional Court last year on the basis that the law was a blow to the right to free enterprise.

The court's reasoned decision was published in the Official Gazette in late July. The court also stated that dershanes cannot be closed down unless adequate alternatives are provided.

However, despite the court's ruling, some pro-government figures and the Education Ministry have claimed that prep schools are still unable to operate legally. But since the Education Ministry last year removed all articles in the Private Educational Institutions Law related to the establishment of prep schools, it now needs to make amendments to the law and add criteria concerning the prep schools.

Criticizing a circular planned to be introduced by the Education Ministry that would limit the size of private examination prep schools in a move designed to force them to close down, CHP İstanbul deputy Akif Hamzaçebi said on Monday that the Education Ministry is only legally entitled to use such regulations to open more prep schools.

Hamzaçebi also emphasized that decisions by the Constitutional Court are final and that violating its rulings via arbitrary regulations is a crime.

Due to high interest from parents, some prep schools have already begun enrolling students, while others are waiting for the Education Ministry to make the necessary amendments.

The law ordering the closure of dershanes was widely seen as part of the AK Party's witch hunt against the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, a civil society initiative inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen that focuses on education and interfaith dialogue. Gülen became the target of the AK Party following the eruption of a corruption scandal in December 2013 in which senior government members were implicated. Then-Prime Minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the movement of masterminding the probe to topple the government and has since targeted those who are inspired by Gülen's ideas.

The police raided a private school, a college and two prep schools inspired by the Gülen movement on Tuesday in the Central Anatolian province of Aksaray.

İsmail Serçe, Ankara (Cihan/Today's Zaman)