Erdoğan allies express support for gender-segregated schools

MP Şehzade Demir (Photo: HÜDA-PAR/Twitter)

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Two parties allied with the government, the Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) and the Great Unity Party (BBP) have expressed support for the recent remarks by the education minister regarding the possibility of opening gender-segregated schools.

During a speech in the parliament, HÜDA-PAR deputy Şehzade Demir said, "We agree with the minister of national education's comments on co-education."

Describing co-education as "coercion," Demir added, "No one should be forced to send their children to co-educational institutions. There should be schools for girls as well as schools for boys. Likewise, there should be schools that provide co-education.

"Our people should be able to send their children to the schools of their choice, based on their own values, without any pressure. They should be able to raise them with the sensitivity and understanding they desire.

"This right of choice is the most natural right for all parents. Imposing co-education is an infringement on this right."

"Hostility towards religion"

BBP Chair Mustafa Destici also backed the ministers remarks in a tweet yesterday, saying, "I wholeheartedly support and agree with our Minister of National Education's suggestion to open separate schools for our girls. We know that those who oppose this under the guise of secularism have a hidden agenda of hostility towards faith and religion.

"Therefore, without paying attention to their nonsensical claims, we should swiftly initiate the necessary work and implement it in the upcoming academic year."

Minister Yusuf Tekin had recently said they may consider opening girls' schools to improve girls' schooling rates as some families refuse to send their daughters to school because "I don't want my daughter to study with boys."

These remarks drew criticism from the opposition, as well as teachers' unions and children's rights groups.

Girls' schooling rate in Turkey

In the 2021-2022 school year, some 866,000 girls in the country were out of education, according to ministry figures. This accounts for nearly 8 percent of all girls in the country.

Moreover, the rate of the girls out of education increases as the level of education increases, with 195,000 girls in primary school age, 298,000 in secondary school and 373,000 in high school cannot go to school.

The HÜDA PAR-AKP alliance

HÜDA-PAR, an Islamist pro-Kurdish party, participated in the elections under the lists of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AKP, thus securing four parliamentary seats.

Opposition parties criticized this alliance, viewing HÜDA-PAR as the political wing of the Kurdish Hezbullah, which targeted hundreds of individuals, including Kurdish politicians and journalists, during the 1990s. However, HÜDA-PAR maintains that it has no affiliation with any armed organization. (RT/VK)