‘Stop sacralizing teachers’ profession, develop solutions to their problems’

* Photo: Eğitim-Sen

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November 24, today, is marked as Teachers' Day in Turkey every year. The Education and Science Laborers' Union (Eğitim-Sen) held a press conference at the union's central office on this occasion.

Addressing the reporters, Eğitim-Sen Chair Nejla Kurul referred to the military coup of September 12, 1980 as the November 24 was declared the Teachers' Day in Turkey in 1981, shortly after the coup.

Kurul said that "November 24 is a symbolic day in which the profile of an unorganized and submissive teacher, which the mindset of September 12 and its representatives today attempt to form, is idealized."

Kurul added, "We want a stop to the talks of how sacred teachers' profession is and how 'honorable a profession' it is every November 24 and we want permanent solutions to be developed for our problems."

Salaries' loss of value over the years

Kurul especially referred to the monthly income of teachers in Turkey amid the recent depreciation of the Turkish Lira.

According to Kurul, in 2012, when 1 US Dollar was 1.81 Turkish Lira, a teacher's salary (1.769 Turkish Lira) could be exchanged for 977 US Dollars. However, today, a teacher on the same level and position can get only 383 US Dollars for her or his monthly salary of 4,960 Turkish Lira.

In other words, Kurul has explained, the monthly salary of a teacher has seen a 2.5-fold loss of value in the last 10 years: "The constantly rising dollar exchange rate shows that this loss will continue."

Giving further examples through a teacher who gets 4,960 Turkish Lira a month, Eğitim-Sen's Kurul said that "while the monthly salary of a teacher on the same level and position could buy 10 quarter gold coins in 2012 and 14 quarter gold coins in 2013 and 2014, the monthly salary of a teacher on the same level and position can buy only 4 quarter gold coins today."

'We want concrete, permanent solutions'

Against this backdrop, union chair Nejla Kurul said, "We want concrete and permanent solutions to be developed for our problems. We don't want teachers to be made 'civil servants of the government' or the appointments of teachers or executives to be made by pulling some strings; but we want our working and living conditions to be improved based on the fact that a quality education is possible if teachers are qualified."

Concluding her remarks, Kurul stated, "In all parts of the world, education laborers are not responsible before political power holders, but before the people and their students. In the face of all policies, practices and impositions to the contrary, we have been waging a struggle to be the teachers of the people, not those of the government ." (RT/SD)