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HUNDREDS of students and teachers across Turkey boycotted colleges yesterday to protest against increased Islamic teaching.
Thousands marched in several Turkish cities holding banners demanding a secular and science-based education.
Police used water cannon to disperse thousands of people who marched in the city of Izmir. Media reports said that 10 people had been detained in five cities for organising the boycott.
Proponents of Turkey’s secular tradition claim President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is building an Islam-focused education to realise his goal of raising “pious generations.”
“Education is an ideological tool,” said Education and Science Labourer’s Union secretary-general Sakine Esen Yilmaz.
“It is now being used to raise an obedient generation that will serve the government.”
“The real problems, in the meantime, are being brushed aside,” Ms Yilmaz said.
“We still have classes of 50-60 students.
“There are schools that have no labs, libraries or sports halls.”
