NEW Party Istanbul Deputy Suat Özçağdaş, who came to İnci Üzmez Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Manisa's Turgutlu district, where 11 students were injured in an armed attack in front of the school, made a statement in front of the school.
Özçağdaş was accompanied by YENİ Party Women's Branch Chairman and Osmaniye Deputy Asu Kaya, Manisa MPs Ahmet Vehbi Bakırlıoğlu and Bekir Başevirgen, Manisa Provincial Deputy Chairman Erdem Nalbant and party members.
Making evaluations about the attack, Özçağdaş drew attention to the recent events in education areas and said, "Unfortunately, these experiences are becoming a reality of our country. I say this as a clear warning to everyone who has responsibility in the administration of this country. We have never experienced such events in the Republic of Turkey until now. We are experiencing these events one after another in Istanbul, Şanlıurfa, Kahramanmaraş, and now Turgutlu. These cannot be considered as isolated events."
Özçağdaş stated that there were 51 incidents in three years during the term of office of the Minister of National Education, and that 47 people lost their lives in education-related fields in these 51 incidents, and said, "If 23 of them were MESEM, 24 of them lost their lives in this and similar attacks, if that Minister of National Education did not receive any message from here, if that Minister of National Education, that Minister of Internal Affairs, that Minister of Family and Social Policies see the protocols they sign every year as a solution, unfortunately, we will have to make this statement again. Anywhere in the world." "In a respectable democracy, 47 people will die in education-related fields during the term of office of a minister, and that minister will talk to us about morality, virtue, traditions and culture," he said.
Stating that school attacks have different dimensions and expressing his criticism of the protocols signed between ministries, Özçağdaş continued as follows:
"School attacks are an issue that reflects all the wrongs in society with its various dimensions. The real issue is not the approach that solves the problem, but the one that pretends to solve it. Unfortunately, two days ago, two ministries signed a protocol with drums and pipes. You would think that these protocols have never been signed in the 103-year history of the Republic. The same protocols have been signed continuously by the same ministries since 2016. The issue cannot be solved by signing the protocol. It is signed every two years, ceremonies are held, AK Parti iktidarında sorunlar çözülüyor diye seviniliyor, aynı şeyler yaşanmaya devam ediyor. Bu böyle olmaz. Bugüne kadar gösterdikleri yaklaşım tam anlamıyla çökmüştür. Bu yaklaşımdan ayrılmaları gerekiyor. Kağıt üstünde iş yapmayacaklar. Ankara'da protokol, illere talimat, kurulan ortak komisyonlar, yılbaşında genelgeler, her şey çözüldü. Bu yaklaşımdan vazgeçeceksiniz. Bu çocukların olduğu ortamlar bu çocuklar için maalesef keyifle gelecekleri, gününü mutlu geçirecekleri ortamlar değildir. Bugün itibarıyla ülkedeki okullar çocuklar için bir tür beton çocuk hapishanelerine dönmüştür. Kelimeyi "I say this deliberately. They come from the morning and sit on uncomfortable wooden desks until the evening. I asked our school principal, there are 35-40 people in the registered class, then the Minister of National Education gives us the number. However, all of Türkiye knows that there are many students even though one type of school is not preferred. When you take the average, it is treated as if the class size has decreased."
"THERE SHOULD BE SAFE, LIVABLE SCHOOLS FOR CHILDREN"
Touching on the physical and social conditions in schools, Özçağdaş said, regarding the problems experienced by students in educational environments, "Sports, art, philosophy, drama and games have been stolen from children's lives in schools. Our most important problem is that there are no schools that are safe, livable, fun for children and provide the opportunity to learn."
Reminding that they submitted parliamentary questions, research proposals and legislative proposals regarding the security of schools, Suat Özçağdaş said, "They rejected them all. The AKP government has not accepted anything from the opposition so far. Until when? After 9 students and 1 teacher were injured in Maraş and 16 people in Şanlıurfa, they had to accept it, and now we have seen once again that we were actually too late in the commission's work."
Stating that 31 thousand garden security guards were appointed after these events took place, Özçağdaş said, "In this case, it was seen that they were of no use because our expert friends were not here. You cannot solve this problem by putting temporary staff from İŞKUR in the garden. Do you not have any seriousness about the state? Aren't you going to do any job properly? 31 thousand garden security guards. Who are they? Inexperienced people they sent from İŞKUR. No way. In these schools, there are people who are trained to work with children, who are psychosocially suitable, who have security experience, who have security experience, and who serve the state." "There is a need for 65 thousand security personnel who have served. I am calling on the government once again. This nation is tired of crying because of your mistakes."
"THERE SHOULD BE ONE GUIDE TEACHER FOR EVERY 250 STUDENTS"
Stating that security measures alone will not be sufficient, Özçağdaş also stated that psychosocial support and guidance services in schools should be strengthened and continued as follows:
"We appointed a security guard, can the problems be solved? It cannot be solved. It cannot be solved by this alone. For example, in this case. It is known that the child who carried out this attack went through a difficult process before. Due to absenteeism, he first goes to MESEM, then to an open high school. He comes here at the beginning of the year. What does this tell us? There is a child here. He says take care of this child, he shouts. Take care of this child. Because, even if nothing else, this child is an adolescent in a transition period. What about the system? The same thing happened in Maraş. Defalarca rehber öğretmen görüşmesi var, sonuç yok. Psikiyatrist görüşmesi var, sonuç yok. Dolayısıyla üçüncüsü okullardaki psikososyal destek sistemlerimizi geliştirmeliyiz. Bu iktidar seçime giderken her 100 öğrencinin olduğu okulda bir rehber öğretmen olacak demişti. Seçimler bitti, Mahmut Özer gitti. Yusuf Tekin geldi, o sözü 'ben vermedim' dedi. Böyle bir ciddiyetsizlik. Buradan söylüyorum. Her okulda rehber öğretmen olmalıdır. Her 250 öğrenciye bir rehber öğretmen olmalıdır. Bu devlet büyük bir devlettir. "This employment can be provided. Guidance teachers are ready for duty. They should be appointed immediately. We do not have a school social service program in schools. I have explained this many times."
"THERE WILL BE SOCIAL SERVICE SPECIALISTS IN SCHOOLS"
School is the mirror of society. Violence, disharmony, discrimination, poverty and deprivation in society are all reflected in the school. If a child comes to school hungry, experiences violence at home or around him, or is discriminated against for various reasons, this may become a situation that can be resolved at school. That's the problem. The state will see this. The State of the Republic of Türkiye will know the conditions under which the children sent to it live. That's why we need a social service program in schools. What will he do? There will be a social worker at the school. We have tens of thousands of social workers waiting for this duty in Türkiye. He is very well educated. Where is this child sleeping who will go to his family? Who does he sleep with? Is there anyone addicted to drugs in your home? Is he subjected to violence? Is he hungry? If you do not do these, you will not govern the Republic of Türkiye, my brother. You will leave those offices.
"I LISTENED TO THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR WITH ASTONISHMENT"
There are 18 million children before higher education. Who are these kids? Yesterday, I listened to the Minister of Internal Affairs with astonishment. Astonished, he looked like him while chatting with the minister next to him, Yusuf Tekin. The Minister says, in other words, sir, are we going to put someone in charge of every child? Of course you can't. What you need to do is to establish the system; the Minister of National Education, who is the one responsible, does not speak out. Whenever something bad happens, you cannot hear the voices of two people in Türkiye. One of them is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. If good news is to be given, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will give it. But if something was wrong, if something bad happened, there is no Tayyip Erdoğan. The same goes for the Minister of National Education. They learned very well. All these things happen in schools. You cannot hear the Minister of National Education. That Minister of Internal Affairs also started to look at the issue from similar perspectives by traveling with him. "You will see the conditions of these children through the school social service program."
"VIOLENCE REFLECTS ON THE SCHOOL AS IT DOES ON THE SOCIETY"
Stating that violence in society also reflects on schools, Özçağdaş touched upon the importance of discipline and social support mechanisms. Özçağdaş said that in an environment where those who commit violence escape with impunity, children can say, "If something like this was done to me at school, I will punish them." He said, "However, if there was a democratic environment here, if there were functioning disciplinary mechanisms, if there were necessary social support mechanisms, that child would not try to punish himself."
Pointing out that children are insecure in digital environments, Özçağdaş said, "They are looking for the happiness in virtual games and virtual groups that they cannot find in real life. They are trying to find the equality of opportunity there that they cannot find in real life. They are trying to establish a bond there that they cannot establish in real life. Therefore, digital threats are not problems imported by external forces, as the ruling party likes to do. They are actually the manifestation of social needs that you cannot meet in real life."
Suat Özçağdaş also pointed out that juvenile delinquency has become one of the main problems of Türkiye and said, "I am calling out from here. Children, education, the world of crime, happiness, future, peace. There are issues we need to talk about within the framework of these. There are precautions we need to take. These issues are not solved by signing protocols side by side. There is a need to take action now. There is a need to leave this mentality. Unless these change, unfortunately, unfortunately, my friends and I will have to make these statements."
