Turkey’s education going from bad to worse

Mahmud al-Batakoshi

Turkish education has been deteriorating rapidly. Turkish universities are already out of the list of the world’s top 500 universities.

Iran, which in 2012 came 12 positions lower than Turkey in the education quality index, is now better than Turkey.

It came four positions higher than Turkey in the same index in 2019. In 2019, the Turkish government reduced funding to education by 42%.

Major failures

A study by the Turkish Ministry of National Education showed the deteriorating standards of school students across Turkey.

It said up to 40% of school students cannot read Turkish.

The deterioration of academic education in Turkey boils down to the migration of a large number of highly educated Turkish citizens after the presumed 2016 coup.

Freedoms have been stifled on university campuses. Over 979 university departments have been closed because of the escape of professors and students.

Some universities and colleges have already stopped working and some educational programs are no longer existent.

The government-run Higher Education Council controls all aspects of higher education in Turkey. Academics do not receive the required training.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan closed down 15 universities where 2,760 academics used to work under the pretext that the universities followed renowned Turkish cleric and opposition figure Fethullah Gülen.

The Turkish government also arrested and put in jail a large number of academics after accusing them of having links with Gülen.

The government sacked over 135,000 educational workers arbitrarily, including 41,705 university staff members.