Educators' union urges scrapping of intelligence agency's Children's Day event

The Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen) has issued a statement criticizing the National Intelligence Organization's (MİT) event planned for the April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day. 

The union condemned the competition, which asked children aged 5-14 to express the concepts of "security, intelligence, and secret agent" through drawings or letters.

Eğitim-Sen questioned the appropriateness of such an event for children and raised concerns about whether the Ministry of National Education was consulted before MİT organized the competition. "Has MİT consulted the Ministry of National Education before organizing such an event? If not, this is a problem. If they have consulted and the Ministry of National Education has allowed it, then this is an even bigger problem."

The statement further criticized the involvement of state institutions like MİT and the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) in activities targeting children, which they claim exceed their constitutional boundaries and responsibilities. 

Eğitim-Sen emphasized that such activities are not only inappropriate for children's psychological development and rights but also fundamentally contradict the spirit of the April 23 Children's Day. The union has called for the immediate withdrawal of the event from the MİT's website and cessation of the activity. (VC/VK)