Turkish Education Ministry demands renaming schools with foreign names

Duvar English

The Turkish Education Ministry (MEB) on Aug. 21 sent a letter titled "Turkish Schools" from the General Directorate of Private Educational Institutions to the governorates of six provinces.

In the letter, the ministry requested the renaming of 30 schools across six provinces whose names were not in Turkish, stating that they were "in violation of the law which states that institutions must be given a Turkish name that has a “specific meaning and is appropriate for the institution's purpose, educational program, and level, in line with the general and specific goals and basic principles of Turkish national education.”

Accordingly, only “minority schools, foreign and international schools, and courses offering only foreign language education may be given foreign names.” 

The law on national education prohibited other institutions from being named after continents, countries, nations, historical figures, numbers, or foreign institutions and organizations.

The ministry informed the governorates of the six provinces about the institutions that were found to have names not in Turkish and warned, "It has been determined that the names of the institutions are in violation of the aforementioned article, and a new institution name must be proposed."

It was learned that the number of schools with non-Turkish names in violation of the law in the six provinces was 30.

The ministry previously warned two French schools operating in Istanbul to comply with its regulations, such as offering religion classes and offering a certain percentage of classes in Turkish.    

French officials and ministry representatives came to a standstill in their talks, which could result in the institutions being barred from accepting Turkish students for the upcoming school year.