Gulen's Army in Bangladesh, "reaching the arteries of the system"

Turkish Cultural Center of Bangladesh promotes Islamic Imam Fethullah Muhammed Gulen's book
Such fine soldiers, how much money has the Gulen Movement spread around Bangladesh?

Turks lack knowledge, over 2,000 Turkish students drop out of school daily

So why is the Gulen Movement putting in schools worldwide?  How did they convince the world that Turkey has some stellar educational system?

More than a third of 15-year-olds are not attending school, while 42 percent in the same age category are unable to solve basic math problems, the report says

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?msg=commentsaved&n=82162000-turkish-students-drop-out-of-school-daily8217-2011-09-22

2000 Turkish students drop out of school daily’

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Thursday, September 22, 2011

Some 2,000 were reported to drop out of school daily in Turkey, according to a recent report. 40 percent of
girls and 25 percent of boys between 15 and 19 are also reported to be neither working nor studying.

Some 2,000 students drop out of Turkey’s secondary schools every day during the educational year, and those who remain enrolled are often failing to learn key skills, a new report has said.

The report, sent to Parliament by the Education Reform Initiative, or ERG, also noted problems with poor training for teachers and a lack of sufficient public spending on education.

Some 360,000 students dropped out of Turkey’s secondary schools in the 2008-2009 school year, while another 295,000 dropped out in the following term, according to ERG, which operates under Istanbul’s Sabancı University. This means an average of 2,000 students drop out each day during the school year.

The report also noted that 40 percent of girls and 25 percent of boys between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither working nor studying.

Dropout rates

More than a third of 15-year-olds in Turkey are not attending school, while 42 percent of juveniles in the same age category are unable to solve basic math problems, according to ERG’s report, which cited figures from the Programme for International Student Assessment, or

PISA, a project of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD.

Turkey’s results on PISA’s 2009 exam are among the worst in OECD countries, with some 25 percent of 15-year-olds also unable to comprehend written texts, and another 30 percent unable to solve science and technology problems they could face in real-life circumstances.

Turkey’s Anatolian high schools have the lowest dropout rates in the country, with around 0.3 percent of students dropping out, while vocational high schools have the highest dropout rates: 11.8 percent for girls and 22.6 percent for boys.

According to the ERG report, Turkey is also among the three OECD countries where students’ success in school is most heavily

affected by their socioeconomic background, including their families’ level of education, income and occupational status.

The rate of access to higher education for the top 20 percent in terms of socioeconomic status stands around 28 percent in Turkey, while the bottom 20 percent have a 0.4 percent rate of access to such institutions, the report said, calling for lawmakers to provide special support for the disadvantaged.

Despite the upswing in recent years, total public spending on

education is still low, according to the report. Some 3.8 percent of public funds in Turkey will be allocated to education in 2013, compared to an OECD average of 6 percent.

Teachers in Turkey are not trained and supported the way they should be, the report also said.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?msg=commentsaved&n=8216turks-lack--knowledge-learn-from--television8217-2011-08-02

Turks lack knowledge, learn from television’

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency
Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The average Turkish family believes it has insufficient knowledge on a number of pertinent issues, yet 65 percent think it is “unnecessary” to attend educational programs that could help them rectify their problems, recent research has revealed.
The “Turkish Families’ Educational Needs” survey, which was conducted among 7,000 Turkish families by the Family and Social Policies Ministry, revealed that the average Turkish family believes it does not have enough education on legal issues, sexual health problems, violence and adolescent education.
Many also said they had little knowledge on subjects such as children’s television and Internet addiction, children’s educational needs, family communication problems, first aid, inheritance law, pre-nuptial agreements, domestic violence, sexual abuse, the rights of the disabled and drug addiction.

Information from TV instead of school

When asked whether or not they would be eager to attend an educational program that could help them with commonly encountered problems, between 57 and 65 percent of the families surveyed said it was “not necessary” and added that information from TV and newspapers was sufficient to solve their problems.
Couples who have been married for more than 16 years are not keen on attending an educational course, the research showed.
The minority who reported that they were willing to attend education classes on important problems said they would prefer such courses to be operated by the Education Ministry rather than nongovernmental organizations.
 Adolescents and the elderly see themselves as the least knowledgeable, the report revealed. Middle-aged people, especially public servants and those working on a freelance basis, said they had more information on the topics in question.

Gulen Schools Turkish Government and Internet Porn Sex

Gulen Charter School Lack of Honesty and Public Trust

Kyrgyzstan Ambassador expressed concern about growing prominence of Fethullah Gulen-funded high schools



¶5. (C) Alpman explained the two-pronged approach to Turkish-Kyrgyz relations by supporting education and investment projects. She said that in addition to funding Manas University, the Turkish government supported other education establishments, such as the theological department at Osh State University, a vocational school for girls, and a high school for gifted students. Alpman expressed her concern about the growing prominence of Fetullah Gulen-funded high schools in Kyrgyzstan (she noted that Gulen is a devout Turk who has run afoul of the Turkish government in the past for his intense religious views). Alpman said that these private schools are growing in popularity because most of the instruction is in English but that the ultra-conservative message may have a negative impact on Kyrgyz youth. Alpman added that her government promoted investment opportunities in Kyrgyzstan for Turkish businesses. She said that several Turkish companies successfully operate in the free trade zones near Bishkek, producing items such as building materials and plastic bottles. In the south, Turkish firms have increased exports of Kyrgyz food products in the last few years.

Complete Wikileaks cable here:

http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=08BISHKEK911&q=gulen





Turkish School in Senegal, Africa performs Turkish dances

Trouble at Gulen Turkish School in Dakar, Senegal AFRICA

No one should be surprised at this article the Turkish School Director is being accused of discrimination toward the Sengalese staff and acting like a "dictator" (surprise surprise)

Rewmi, Dakar, Senegal, May 10, 2011
Anger: serious charges against the Yavuz Selim School Group of Dakar
by Fara Michel Dièye

http://gulenforeignmedia.weebly.com/may-10-2011-senegal.html

(a.k.a. University of Dakar), strongly objected to their working conditions. Speaking out  against a "form of slavery,” these teachers intend to implement several plans of action against their director.

The problems they face are related to their poor working conditions, labor law violations, wages that according to them are meager, and also delays in payment of wages and the exploitation of personnel.

According to the press release they sent us, “a class brings in an average of 12,420,000 francs per month while the teacher sees only 130,000 CFA francs."   [Translator’s note: the currency of Senegal is the CFA franc.  The exchange rate as of Sep 2011 was around 465 CFA francs = 1 US dollar.]

Speaking out against a form of racism and nepotism, they point out that over a year ago at the elementary school located at Mermoz there was a story of a pedophile and deviant behavior reported in the news.

Launching a bitter attack on the director who they say "reigns like a true dictator," the teachers reveal that he refuses to even shake hands with teachers that he considers atheist because they wear amulets.

Funny and sad at the same time, the complainants attest that "because his daughter received a score of 6/10 in drawing, he flew into a rage, even going so far as to threaten any teacher who dared to give his daughter a failing grade."

Carrying the allegations further, they emphasize that any claim is synonymous with dismissal.

"In the manner of a true dictator, he managed to divide the Turkish and Senegalese staff of the General Director.  It's the same poisonous atmosphere that exists at the elementary school in Thies and the kindergarten located in Sud Foire," the accusers assert.  [Translator's note;  Thies is a city about 25 miles east of Dakar; Sud Foire is about 10 miles west of Dakar, near the international airport.]

These teachers, organized in a union, are planning to boycott the proctoring and grading of entrance tests planned for May 14, and say they want to put in place other plans of action which could go so far as to declare the Director of the Elementary School "persona non grata.”

To get their side of the story, we tried several times to contact a responsible member of the accused group, but there was always no answer to the phone calls.

Fara Michel Dièye

Note: Rewmi is a news portal in Senegal that is mentioned in this list of Senegalese news sources maintained at Stanford University.  The original article in French published on the Rewmi website can be read here.

The Teachers Union of the Yavuz Selim School Group (Groupe Scolaire Yavuz Selim), a Turkish school located in Dakar in front of the Cheikh Anta Diop University

Article from Gulen’s personal mouthpiece paper Today’s Zaman 2008,  Babacan visits Turkish school in Dakar

http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=136276

Yavus Selim is openly considered a Turkish Islamic school named after a mosque built during the Ottoman era

 

The Yavuz Selim Mosque, also known as the Selim I Mosque (Turkish: Yavuz Selim Camii) is an Ottoman imperial mosque located top of the 5th Hill of Istanbul, Turkey, overlooking the Golden Horn. Its size and geographic position make it a familiar landmark on the Istanbul skyline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yavuz_Selim_Mosque