29.03.2025 10:21
Discussions continue regarding the refusal to allow a headscarf-wearing student into the İrsen Küçük Secondary School in Nicosia. Most recently, the school principal, Gülden Öğçüm, fainted while meeting with officials from the Ministry of National Education who had come to persuade her.
There were tense moments when a student wanted to enter the İrsen Küçük Secondary School in Nicosia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, wearing a headscarf. The student, who was blocked by the President of the Turkish Cypriot Secondary Education Teachers' Union, Selma Eylem, and school teachers, had a brief argument with other parents.
THEY DID NOT ALLOW THE OFFICIAL INSIDE
The Director of the General Secondary Education Department of the Ministry of National Education, Yusuf İnanıroğlu, who visited İrsen Küçük Secondary School, was turned away at the door by a group of teachers and union officials stationed at the school.
THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL FAINTED
During a meeting between the Ministry of National Education officials and the school principal, Gülden Öğçüm, the tension did not decrease in the school where the headscarf crisis was escalating. Following the incident, the school principal, who experienced a nervous breakdown, fainted, and health teams intervened.
THE REGULATION WAS WITHDRAWN
The regulation change made to prevent students from being subjected to different applications regarding the dress code granted students the right to wear a bandana over a cap. However, after teacher unions protested the regulation by organizing demonstrations, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel met with union representatives. As a result of the discussions, it was announced that the regulation would be withdrawn. In line with the decision taken, the "Regulation on Rules and Discipline to be Followed Inside and Outside Secondary Education Institutions (Amendment)" was removed from the Official Gazette. Thus, the authority to determine the dress code rules was returned to the school administrations.
REACTION FROM THE AK PARTY FRONT
AK Party Spokesperson Ömer Çelik reacted to the refusal of a student to enter İrsen Küçük Secondary School in the TRNC due to wearing a headscarf. Çelik stated, "We strongly condemn the prevention of a student from entering the school at İrsen Küçük Secondary School in the TRNC due to their clothing. This ugly approach that violates the right to education is a fanaticism contrary to human rights. The sentences they use to justify this ugliness are grave. We have fought a very fundamental struggle for democracy against this fanaticism in our country. Those who signed this prohibition in the past are left alone with their shame. The same fanaticism must be prevented from harming the TRNC. We hope that this ugly approach, which is contrary to the most fundamental values, will be corrected."