Why and how did Fethullah Gülen focus on education as a theme of his teaching and activities?
Between 1972 and 1975, Fethullah Gülen held the post of preacher in several cities in the Aegean and Marmara regions.
He continued to preach and to teach the ideas about education and the service ethic that he had developed. He continued setting up hostels for high school and university students. At this time educational opportunities were still scarce for ordinary Anatolian people. Most student accommodation in the major cities was controlled or /infiltrated by extreme leftists and rightists and seethed in a hyper-politicized atmosphere. Parents in provincial towns whose children had passed entrance examinations for universities or city high schools were caught in a dilemma – to surrender their children’s care to the ideologues or to deny them further education and keep them at home.
The hostels set up by Fethullah Gülen and his companions offered parents the chance to send their children to the big cities to continue their secular education, while protecting them from the hyper-politicized environment.
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