----- Original Message -----
From: Chowdhury
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 9:56 AM
Subject: Turkey: School reform law deferred
Turkey: School reform law deferred
Thursday 09 February 2006, 19:55 Makka Time, 16:55 GMT
Securalists fear the move could increase Islam's influence
Related:
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Turkey's government has said it will fight a court ruling suspending a key
educational reform, a move likely to stoke tensions with the country's secular
establishment.
On Wednesday, Turkey's top administrative court ordered the suspension of a
decree that allows students from religious vocational schools to move to
mainstream high schools to take final exams, thus boosting their chances of
entering university.
Secularists in Turkey's educational and judicial establishment fear such moves
could increase the influence of Islam and erode the strict division between
religion and state.
They distrust the ruling AK Party due to its Islamist roots.
Education Minister Huseyin Celik said: "We're going to oppose the [court]
decision. We will exhaust the legal process.
"If you ask me how I evaluate the decision, I cannot say I am happy about it. I
would like to express my regret ... and to say that in legal terms I am
surprised."
Academic obstacles
The court gave no reason for its decision to suspend the reform.
Erdogan has tried in the past to
relax the restrictions
But the secularist body in charge of Turkish higher education, which had sought
the ruling, said the reform would strengthen religious schools at the expense
of others.
Graduates of vocational schools, including the religious ones, are not banned
from attending university, but they face obstacles in garnering the points
required to win a place to study subjects other than their speciality.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister is a graduate from a religious
vocational school and has tried in the past to relax the restrictions, but met
similar secularist opposition.
The secularists have also thwarted his efforts to relax a ban on women wearing
the headscarf at university.
Erdogan's centre-right Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has a big
majority in parliament, denies critics' claims that it has an Islamist agenda.
The vast majority of Turkey's 72 million people are Muslims.
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