Despite Erdoğan’s election promise, Education Minister says they will continue interviewing teacher candidates

Turkish Education Minister Yusuf Tekin has stated they will continue the practice of interviewing teacher candidates and argued that President Erdoğan “expressed his discomfort with the way the interviews were conducted.” Before the elections, Erdoğan promised to abolish the practice of interviewing civil servant candidates.

Tuesday September 12 2023 12:14 pm

Duvar English

Turkish Education Minister Yusuf Tekin on Sept. 11 stated that they will continue interviewing teacher candidates despite President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s election promise to abolish the practice.

Tekin told HaberTürk on a live broadcast that “Our President (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) expressed his discomfort with the way the interviews were conducted. So we decided to conduct the interviews like (real) interviews.”

“Each teacher candidate will be asked a question prepared electronically through random sampling. The candidates will explain a lecture as if they were teaching students. As a result of the process, we have a guide on what our teacher friends will measure (the candidates). Then, in the last part of the 45 minutes, our teacher candidate friend will give a written answer regarding their own exam. The entire exam will be recorded by camera,” Tekin added.

His remarks came despite President and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 11 promising to abolish the practice of interviewing civil servant candidates while declaring his party’s election manifesto.

The practice was started by the AKP government in the first place and was widely used especially in the latest years to employ pro-government figures in the state institutions rather than more successful candidates.