Unionist Uğur Gelmez: Violence at schools is a structural problem

After several deadly attacks at schools in Turkey, concern is growing over a further escalation of violence. In recent days, shootings occurred in Urfa and Maraş, leaving numerous people dead and injured. Just last month, a teacher was killed in a knife attack in Istanbul. The perpetrators were students or former students of the schools where the attacks took place.

Against this backdrop, Uğur Gelmez from the Union of Private Sector Teachers warns of a structural development. According to Gelmez, the increasing acts of violence should not be seen as isolated incidents, but rather as expressions of fundamental problems within the education system. “These events cannot be evaluated as individual acts of violence in isolation.  Instead, they reveal the contradictions of an imposed reactionary education system. At the point we have reached today, violence in educational institutions is a structural problem,” Gelmez told ANF.

Gelmez emphasized that schools should be places where safety is ensured. “However, they have largely lost this function. Today, schools have lost their protective character,” he said. At the same time, he warned against reducing the issue to mere security measures. He remarked that violence does not emerge suddenly, but is the result of broader social developments. Gelmez identified social inequality, lack of prospects, and the growing alienation of young people from the education system as key causes.

“Violence arises under conditions where students feel they have no future, where social inequality increases, and where attachment to education weakens,” he said, adding that exclusion and bullying also intensify this development. Gelmez further criticized cultural influences that normalize violence. The glorification of mafia-like structures in popular series and the portrayal of violence as the only effective means particularly shape young people, he noted.

Education should not be reduced to a matter of security or left to market-driven interests, Gelmez added. “Instead, a fundamental reorientation is needed. The education system must be rebuilt on a scientific, public, and egalitarian basis,” he demanded. With regard to political responsibility, Gelmez also made clear demands. Those responsible must be held accountable, he said, calling, among other things, for the resignation of Education Minister Yusuf Tekin.