Posted on 09/23/2014 9:55:36 AM PDT by GonzoII
Istanbul (AFP) -- When Turkish pupils received their school entry exam results after the end of last term, textile worker and father Halil Ibrahim Beyhan received an unpleasant surprise.
His daughter had been assigned to a religious high school, like thousands of other students under a new system that caught many parents off guard.
Parents, educators and civil society groups have decried the move as another attack on Turkey's secular principles by the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) co-founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing the government of imposing religion on students.
"My child will be forced to wear a long skirt. She will be forced to put a headscarf on her head too. It is not mandatory for now, but who knows it won't be one day?" said Beyhan, 49.
"I am a practicing Muslim, I fast, I say my prayers and read the Koran, but I still want my daughter to be educated in a normal school," he said.
As part of a new nationwide exam introduced this year, some 40,000 students have been assigned to religious high schools either because they did not select any school, scored low marks or due to a technicality.
Most of them have been placed in schools nearest their home, but since so many religious schools have opened in recent years, it was difficult for some to avoid Imam Hatips -- schools specialising in religious education combined with a modern curriculum.
Erdogan himself was educated in Istanbul at an Imam Hatip, beginning an education that saw him gain a place at university and then climb the ladder of Islamic politics. The name of the schools openly describes their religious vocation -- Hatip being derived from the Arabic for sermon.
(Excerpt) Read more at aina.org ...
Ataturk had the right idea about Islam in Turkish society. Turkey could use another Ataturk.
The Only “Moderate Muslim” is a lapsed Muslim because of the way the Koran is worded....
turkey had the chance to join the modern world, but it rejected it. It is now going back to the barbarism of many of its neighbors.
Hey, Turkey, you made your bed with Islam; shut up and lie down!
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