Abant Platform Prepares 30 Article Education Advisory
The 9th Abant Platform, gathered in Erzurum to discuss the problems in the Turkish education system, drafted a declaration Sunday.
The 30 article advisory decision, which the platform concluded after the meetings lasting three days were made public. In the declaration titled, "On the Threshold of a New Era: New Research in Education" more than 100 academic, scientists, journalists and state officials analyzed the problems of the education system and suggested possible solutions.
"With the awareness that the problems of a very crucial, sensitive and significant issue as education cannot be solved in a short time, we present the following articles to the public, which can be defined as emergency actions and hope that they will be put on the agenda to be discussed," the Platform declared.
The necessity to synthesize global and national values in education was stressed. The K-8 curriculum should be implemented to help students gain "Turkish national values" from an early age. Sending village students to remote schools and putting students with different learning levels in a single class should end. The platform suggested that without increasing the level of difference, in dialogue, love, and a tolerant environment, the freedom to start religious and moral education at an early age should be respected.
The conclusion report of the Abant Platform reads in summary, "Education being an interpersonal activity, socio-political and ideological frames encircle the individual. Furthermore approaches that do not conceive humanity as a value and bring state and authority to the foreground constrain the individual's freedom and essence, and also subjugate the masses. With the emergence of globalization and the orientation of the masses by communication networks, to conform to certain trends it more important than ever to attain a free human consciousness and to be free. The Ninth Abant Platform discussed educational problems to express the need for a strong education system grounded upon a consistent philosophy of education. Our philosophy of education should lead human beings to the place they deserve. In applying this philosophy, the educator can be efficient by conforming to it and illustrating it in his life. Universal values should be fused with national values to obtain a synthesis. Subjects such as religion, language, and the dimension of faith should be deemed more important. Rote learning and authoritarianism should be abandoned. Our philosophy of education should be democratic. The moral and social force of the dimension of faith cannot be belittled. Without widening the divergences and in a climate of love and tolerance, the freedom to start religious and moral education at an early age should be respected. The beliefs of different religions, creeds and sects should be considered in education. (By Recai Morkoc, Ali Pektas, Omer Sari)
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