In Ankara, a police attack took place on a protest by the education union Eğitim-Sen. The teachers tried to march to the parliament in protest against the "Teaching Profession Law" that was being debated in parliament. The police attacked the protesting teachers with batons and pepper spray. 15 of the protesters were taken into custody. In particular, people who were sprayed with pepper spray from close range collapsed.

"We will resist to the end"

Despite the attacks, the teachers continued their protest, but were stopped again. Finally, through persistence, they reached Parliament Park. Eğitim-Sen General Chair Kemal Irmak said: "If the police are stubborn, we are even more stubborn. We will resist to the end. We will bring back our arrested friends.”

Teaching profession law: neo-liberalism, corruption and repression

Eğitim-Sen is clearly critical of the draft law. The trade union said that “its content discredits the teaching profession, offers no solutions to the economic problems of teachers and abolishes the principle of equal pay for equal work. It weakens the personal rights of teachers and increases discrimination and inequality among teachers.” The union criticizes the fact that the draft law does not contain any regulations on the pay of teachers at private schools and instead distinguishes between the public and private sectors.

Teaching in Turkey: A ticket to a precarious life

The draft law does not sufficiently address the actual needs and expectations of teachers and does not contain any comprehensive efforts to improve their social status. The teaching profession in Turkey is extremely poorly paid. The highest gross salary for teachers is just over 1,000 euros, and this is despite living costs that are sometimes even higher than in Germany due to inflation. Prospective teachers are even expected to receive far less than half of that. The situation is far more precarious for teachers at private schools.

At the same time, teachers obviously fear even greater attacks by the regime on their teaching freedom. The draft law regulates in detail the disciplinary punishments for trainee teachers and teachers. The union sees a clear threat to the security of teachers' jobs, similar to the planned, completely non-transparent promotion options, and reminds of the arbitrary treatment that already exists towards teachers. The introduction of "performance-related" promotions also increases competition and devalues ​​the teaching profession in general.