All of them were important, and all of them deserved attention. But there were some other developments and stories that we did not have the time and opportunity to talk about and think about, although they were as important as the agenda items.In a village in Konya, someone who was supposed to be a teacher allegedly punished one of her students in an awful way. The student was just 7 years old. According to reports, she forgot to bring one of her textbooks to school. Then the teacher asked the other 28 students in the classroom to slap her. After the family complained, the teacher was fired.
Such a draconian attitude could be considered an “individual case,” but three friends of mine recalled the same situation from their childhood days when they were in elementary school.
Another story was about 24 high school students who were expelled from school because they held a sit-in protest during their lunch break in order to support Tekel workers. Tekel workers, until recently, were protesting to keep their jobs and salaries after their workplace became privatized.
The 16 and 17-year-old students said they did not skip classes, did not shout but just held a sit-in protest, which cost them their education.
Another development this week was the decision by the Higher Education Board (YÖK) concerning students of vocational schools. YÖK was trying to bring equality to vocational school students in the university entrance exams, but all its decisions regarding the issue were blocked by the Council of State. Finally, YÖK suggested a modified coefficient calculation system that was supposed to make it difficult, but not impossible, for students to pursue an area of study that differs from their vocational training. But it is not clear what the Council of State will do.
In short, this country is wasting one of its most valuable resources: its youth.
There are 12 million people who are between the ages of 12 and 24 in Turkey. Their number will increase for the next 10 to 15 years, but after that, the population will start to age. Experts indicate that such a demographic condition is very rare, and Turkey has to take advantage of this golden opportunity now or will simply miss it.
A report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) points out that Turkey urgently has to invest in its youth and has to prepare them for the difficult conditions of the global market or has to face this youth later as a source of the problem.
But there are 5 million young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in this country who are simply doing nothing. Approximately 1 million of them are looking for a job, and worse, 300,000 of them have given up doing so because they have lost all hope. There are 22,000 young people in jail and 650,000 disabled youth.
Only 18 percent of Turkish youth have the chance to go to university. Vocational training is very problematic, too. Policies regarding these schools are frequently changing. Graduating from those schools, which have limited training opportunities, does not mean that one is able to find a job easily.
Adults who are accusing youngsters of being apolitical are not letting them participate in political life, either. They are not allowed to use the right of assembly; they are not allowed to say something about their own future.
Some people are talking about juristocracy in Turkey. Some others are talking about oligarchic bureaucracy; there is the militaristic approach, too. But another source of the problem is gerontocracy, which does not allow the structural changes in Turkey that will make the country a reasonable place not only for young people but for everyone.
Until then at least they should leave the youth alone instead of wasting them.
