On October 5th, World Teachers’ Day, teachers who are barred from practicing their profession with statutory decrees came together in Amsterdam, the Netherlands’ capital city, and shared the unjust treatment they were subjected to with a press release in Turkish, English, and Dutch.
On behalf of the Broken Chalk members, Broken Chalk Spokesperson Erdinç Demirok made the English statement, Fatih Ok in Dutch, and Broken Chalk board member Feride Özer in Turkish.

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Feride Özer, a board member of Broken Chalk, explained their schedule and said: “October 5th is known as World Teachers’ Day. It is celebrated throughout the world with the theme “Teachers: Leading in crisis, reimagining the future.” Teachers are trying to do their best for their students during Covid-19. Although teaching is the utmost important job, compared to the other professions, they are underpaid. Nobody can pay what they deserve. They are the ones who shape our future. Adequate payment is not the only problem they are facing. As Broken Chalk, we are here to celebrate World Teachers’ Day and be the voice of the teachers who have been killed, put in prison, exiled, and lost their lives due to oppression, conflict, and persecution in the world.

Ozer added, “Teachers are the architects of society. Every individual accepts that education is the number one priority of humanity. Without the proper knowledge, we could not be able to create a peaceful community. The light of education can help us eliminate the evils from society and introduce good thoughts. Today we would like to celebrate The Teachers Day of all the teachers in the world.

Moreover, we would like to bring the teachers in danger to the public in different parts of the world. The attacks range from the bombing of schools to the killing of students and teachers. Rape and sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, and forced recruitment also occurred instigated by armed groups. Attacks on education harm the students and teachers, but they also affect the communities both in the short and long term.”

TEACHERS ARE UNDER ATTACK ALL OVER THE WORLD

• In Nigeria, Northeast 611 teachers were killed, 910 schools were destroyed in nine years.
  In Mali, 75 children have been injured in violent attacks, close to 100 are confirmed to have been recruited as child soldiers, and 900 schools remain closed due to insecurity.
• More than 22,000 students and teachers were harmed or killed in attacks on education in the last five years.
• In the US, since 2009, at least 177 schools have experienced a shooting. Attackers killed 110 students and teachers, injured 246.
• Between 2015 and 2019, 93 countries experienced at least one attack on education, 19 more than the previous reporting period of 2013-2017.
• Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo were particularly badly hit, with 1,500 attacks on schools in each country, and Afghanistan, Palestine, and Syria all saw 500.
• In Cameroon, over 1,000 school and university students have been threatened, abducted, injured, or killed by armed groups or security forces.
• In Ukraine, since the conflict began in early 2014, more than 750 educational facilities on both sides of the contact line have been damaged or destroyed due to hostilities.

 

The cases mentioned above are the outcome of war and conflict. One of the priorities of governments is to reduce such problems. Teachers and students from Turkey have been facing human rights violations from their Government for a long time. Their Government has taken the lives of the teachers and their families. Torture and losing their jobs are also among the things that educators have been suffering. Teachers have been exposed to torture, put in prison, exiled, and lost their lives.

• According to the data compiled by the Union of Education (Eğitim-Sen), the Turkish Government dismissed 41,005 educators, including 33,965 teachers, 5,740 academic personnel, 1,300 administrative staff at educational facilities.
• Moreover, the Government revoked the teaching licenses of more than 23,464 teachers, who used to work for the private schools affiliated with the Gülen movement.
• The number of teachers, who have shared the same fate since they used to work for university preparation schools affiliated with the Gülen movement, is officially unknown. However, the total number is believed to be around 30,000.
• According to the information given by Turkish Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz, 1,069 private schools were closed.
• Just after the coup attempt, the Government closed 1550 university preparation schools and three hundred one private study centers, and thus, 19,847 people were added to the unemployed list.
• Fifteen private universities, where more than 56,000 students were taking higher education, were also closed, and thus 5,342 people, including 2,465 academicians, lost their jobs.

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Due to the current Government’s unlawful and unjust practices in Turkey, the oppression of society, cancellation of teachers’ diplomas, work permits, and passports, hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their country illegally by risking their lives. Unfortunately, some of them, including babies and children, lost their lives during their journeys across the Aegean Sea and Evros River. Some examples which were teachers are as follows:

• Maden family: Mother and father died in the Aegean Sea along with their three children.
• Doğan and Abdulrezzak families died in the Evros river with their children.
• Halil Dinç, who was also a teacher, died of a heart attack in Athens, Greece.

Broken Chalk board member Feride Özer emphasized the fact that the Turkish Government is targeting educators living abroad: “Turkish Foreign Minister has been boastful about the abduction of 100 people from 18 countries by the Turkish National Intelligence Agency. Turkish Government has been abducting teachers from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Albania, Bulgaria, Gabon, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Pakistan, and Qatar.

As Broken Chalk, with a reputable community and press members, we believe that teachers should celebrate this day as usual together with their students. Unfortunately, some of them already died under challenging conditions or in exile, and some others died in suspicious ways, armed groups destroyed schools. Teachers have dedicated themselves to their work and continue to educate students and contribute to society and humanity wherever they live. We continue to demand justice for teachers through national and international judiciary. We want to draw the attention of governments, stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, and human rights defenders to fight against the human rights violations educators are facing. We wish all the teachers in the world a Happy Teachers’ Day!”.

LETTERS TO THE DUTCH AUTHORITIES

Broken Chalk organized a letter campaign regarding October 5th, World Teachers’ Day. As part of the campaign, letters were sent by Broken Chalk members to many institutions and individuals, including ministries, NGOs, mayors, school principals, and teachers.

 

Translated from 5 Ekim Dünya Öğretmenler Gününde KHK’lı öğretmenler Hollanda’dan seslendi: ‘Dokunmayın’

Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which considers the fulfillment of a constitutional right by the lawyers following the investigation and prosecution procedures of the persons who were prosecuted after the treacherous coup theater of 15 July as a terrorist organization activity, detained a total of 60 jurists, including 48 lawyers, 7 intern lawyers, 3 dismissed judges, 1 dismissed judge candidate, and 1 law school graduate.

Ongoing acts both after 17-25 December 2013 and the treacherous coup theater of 15 July 2016, it has shown how insincere the Erdogan’s regimes’ words were, in which speaking of the rule of law, the presumption of innocence, human rights, justice, and the state of law, and saying that “The rule of law will be essential, not the law of superiors in my country.”

Doctors, nurses, journalists, engineers, lawyers, academicians, teachers, students, athletes, artists, business people and many other segments of the society, who have not even hold a gun and have a single criminal record, have confronted with terrorism accusations in an unlawful manner, regardless of the presumption of innocence, and have been treated as terrorists. Following this, the detention of 60 jurists, who wanted to practice their profession, proved that ‘the Law of the Supreme’ was sovereign in Turkey, in which the democratic understanding of the law has been cut off. The country has passed under a dictatorial rule.

Several bar associations in Turkey have responded to 60 jurists’ detention because of their professional activities. Correspondingly, Şanlıurfa Bar Association has stated the following:

“We state that we are against all kinds of unlawful and biased attempts to intimidate and discredit the defense. We demand the immediate release of our colleagues who were detained just because of their professional activities”.

 

Another reaction to the detention of lawyers came from United Nations Special Rapporteur Diego García-Sayán. Garcia has shared his opinion with the following statement on his Twitter account regarding the detention of the jurists, including 48 lawyers:

“Recent arrests in Turkey of 48 lawyers and 7 intern lawyers aggravate the systematic repression against lawyers and their representative organizations imposed by the government”

and added that “since 2016, more than 1600 lawyers have been arrested and 441 of those lawyers have been convicted”.

Zafer Kurt

18-09-2020

 

2020 Global Education Monitoring Report*, which looks at social, economic, and cultural mechanisms that discriminate against disadvantaged children, youth, and adults, keeping them out of education or marginalized in it. Countries are expanding their vision of inclusion in education to put diversity at the core of their systems. Released at the start of the Decade of Action to 2030, and during the Covid-19 crisis, which has exacerbated underlying inequalities, the report argues that resistance to addressing every learner’s needs is a real threat to achieving global education targets.

 

The commitment of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) to ensure “inclusive and equitable quality education” and promote “lifelong learning for all” is part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development pledge to leave no one behind. The agenda promises a “just, equitable, tolerant, open and socially inclusive world in which the needs of the most vulnerable are met” (UN 2015, paragraphs 8 and 9). Social, economic, and cultural factors may complement or run counter to the achievement of equity and inclusion in education. Education offers a key entry point for inclusive societies if policymakers and educators see learner diversity not as a problem but as a challenge.

 

Education systems need to treat every learner with dignity in order to overcome barriers, raise attainment, and improve learning.

 

Inclusive education is commonly associated with the needs of people with disabilities and the relationship between special and mainstream education. Since 1990, the struggle of people with disabilities has shaped the global perspective on inclusion in education, leading to recognition of the right to inclusive education in Article 24 of the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD 2016 ).

 

This follows its 2019 edition, which focused on the closely related topic of inclusion of migrant and displaced populations in national education systems.

 

 

Inclusion in education as a process and result

 

Inclusion in education is, first and foremost, a process contributing to the achievement of the goal of social inclusion. Defining equitable education requires a distinction between “equality” and “equity”. Equality is a state of affairs (what): a result that can be observed in inputs, outputs, or outcomes. Equity is a process (how): actions aimed at ensuring equality. Defining inclusive education is more complicated because the concept conflates process and result.

 

This report argues for thinking of inclusion primarily as a process: actions that embrace diversity and build a sense of belonging, rooted in the belief that every person has value and potential and should be respected, regardless of their background, ability, or identity.

Poverty and inequality are major constraints. According to the World Inequality Database, despite progress in reducing extreme poverty, especially in Asia, it affects 2 in 10 children worldwide, 5 in 10, in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Progress in education access is stagnating. Globally, an estimated 258 million children, adolescents and youth, or 17% of the total, are not in school. Poverty affects attendance, completion, and learning opportunities. In all regions except Europe and Northern America, adolescents from the richest 20% of households are three times more likely to complete lower secondary school than their peers from the poorest 20%.

 

Those most likely to be excluded from education are also disadvantaged due to language, location, gender, and ethnicity.In at least 20 countries with data, hardly any poor rural young woman completed upper secondary school.

 

Careful planning and provision of inclusive education can deliver improvement in academic achievement, social and emotional development, self-esteem, and peer acceptance. Including diverse students in mainstream classrooms and schools can prevent stigma, stereotyping, discrimination, and alienation. It is a prerequisite for education in, and for, a democracy based on fairness, justice, and equity. It provides a systematic framework for removing barriers according to the principle “every learner matters and matters equally”.

 

Inclusion improves learning for all students and must be the foundation of approaches to teaching and learning.

The 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report asks questions related to key policy solutions, obstacles to implementation, coordination mechanisms, financing channels, and monitoring of inclusive education.

 

The report collects information on how each country, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, addresses the challenge of inclusion in education and recognizes the different contexts and challenges facing countries in providing inclusive education. Its coverage is broad, addressing the albinos in sub-Saharan Africa, the stateless in Arab countries, the displaced Rohingya in Asia, the Roma in Europe, the Afro-descendants in Latin America.

 

It addresses these challenges through seven chapters: laws and policies; data; governance and finance; curriculum, textbooks, and assessments; teachers; schools; and students, parents, and communities.

 

Learner diversity is a strength to celebrate

 

The world has committed to inclusive education, not by chance but because it is the foundation of an education system of good quality that enables every child, youth, and adult to learn and fulfill their potential. Gender, age, location, poverty, disability, ethnicity, indigeneity, language, religion, migration or displacement status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, incarceration, beliefs, and attitudes should not be the basis for discrimination against anyone in education.

 

The prerequisite is to see learner diversity not as a problem but as an opportunity. Education systems need to be responsive to all learners’ needs.

 

 

The report makes 10 recommendations to achieve inclusion targets by the 2030 deadline.

 

 

1. Widen the understanding of inclusive education: It should include all learners, regardless of identity, background or ability.

 

2. Target financing to those left behind: There is no inclusion while millions lack access to education.

 

3. Share expertise and resources: This is the only way to sustain a transition to inclusion.

 

4. Governments should open space for communities to voice their preferences as equals in the design of policies on inclusion in education.

 

5. Ensure cooperation across government departments, sectors, and tiers: Inclusion in education is but a subset of social inclusion.

 

6. Make space for non-government actors to challenge and fill gaps: But also make sure they work toward the same inclusion goal.

 

7. Apply universal design: Ensure inclusive systems fulfill every learner’s potential.

 

8. Prepare, empower, and motivate the education workforce: All teachers should be prepared to teach all students .

 

9. Collect data on and for inclusion with attention and respect: Avoid stigmatizing labeling.

 

10. Learn from peers: A shift to inclusion is not easy.

 

 

 

*https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2020/inclusion

Click for the full report

Summarized by Broken Chalk

 

 

Abdullah Bozkurt*, Sweden-based a Turkish journalist living in exile, was attacked yesterday near his home in Stockholm. Bozkurt is an Executive Director of the Nordic Research Monitoring Network**.  Nordic Research Monitoring Network is a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness of radical and violent extremists.

 

 

“Within minutes of getting out of my home, one of the three men approached me behind and unexpectedly knocked me down. As I fell to the asphalt pavement, they started punching me in the face and on the head” Bozkurt said, adding that the perpetrators then ran away.

After the attack Bozkurt said; “I know this attack was meant to send me a message due to my journalistic work revealing the injustices and wrongdoings committed in Turkey … I reject this message.”

 

 

*Bozkurt is a journalist and author with over 20 years of experience in journalism. He has served in various capacities in the Turkish media as bureau chief in New York, Washington, D.C., and Ankara. His specialty is covering radical jihadist groups operating in Turkey and its neighborhood.

 

**Nordic Research Monitoring Network is a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness on radical and violent extremist trends in Europe and beyond, with a specific focus on patterns that may very well disturb and disrupt social peace, harmony, and community integration. It hopes to contribute to the debate on how nations should prevent and combat radicalization with close cooperation and collaboration between all relevant stakeholders at all levels of governance including the NGO community and civil society.