Turkish school offers Filipino Muslims better education

By M. Bilal Kenasari

COTABATO, the Philippines

It took Mangelem Athram five hours to get to the interview.

The 14-year-old told the Anadolu Agency that he'd scrambled out of bed early that Ramadan morning, gathered his documents and emerged from his southern Philippines home to the bright, scorching light of the day.

Riding his motorbike to the regional headquarters of Turkey's Diyanet Foundation - two friends squashed on its rear, each also with dreams of a scholarship to study in Turkey - he'd putt-putted his way for 240 kilometers across Mindanao - the second largest and southernmost major island in the Philippines.

As the sound of the engine below echoed around the lush rolling hills and the volcanoes and mountains in the distance, the banana and cacao farmers had scurried among the plants and trees all around. Mangelem, however, stared straight ahead. For years his focus had been on just one thing.

Arriving in central Cotabato City, he'd exhaled deeply. He knew his English wasn't that good, but he told the man waiting that his ambition was to be "a teacher."

All around were other students, almost 100 in all; some - for lack of space inside the building's corridors - appearing to hide in its shadows in an effort to get out of the bright midday sun. Documents held tight to their chests, eyes peering from the gloom, they were all there for two days of interviews with the Turkish NGO affiliated with religious affairs.

An hour later, Mangelem's interview had gone well - he excelled in Islamic studies, and also knew some mathematics - and he is now one of the lead candidates for a scholarship to study in Turkey.

His friends, however, were not so lucky. After traveling the 240 kilometers, 17-year-old Musavver was told he had come all of the way for nothing.

Fully prepared, a little anxious, he'd sat preparing to be grilled about his life choices and education only to be told that he was too old for a scholarship.

"The announcement of the scholarship interview clearly detailed that only those born between 1998 and 2000 were to be accepted for consideration," the Diyanet Foundation's Vice Director Murat Uyar said.

Perhaps that's why Mohammad, 16 - who interviewed later in the day - was asked to show his date of birth immediately on entering the room. The small, nervous boy appeared older than most of his fellows, but his birth certificate proved otherwise.  

“We are farmers,” he told AA. "We work hard, and our skin is dry because of the sun. This is why I look older.”

Mohammad wasn't the only student from the region's rural areas. As the day progressed, more and more applicants to study at one of four of Turkey's International Imam Hatip schools revealed themselves to be from farming and fishing backgrounds. 

Vice Director Uyar, who was present during the interviews, highlighted the applicants' lack of knowledge in subjects such as science.

“There will be additional tuition for those who will be selected, as considering their standards right now, they will not be able to catch up with rest of the students,” he said.

Most of the applicants have minimal education, but if successful once they arrive in Turkey, they are taught in “hafiz” - memorizing the Quran - and given an Arabic education.

Imam-Hatip schools were founded in 1925 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk to train religious functionaries just one year after the Turkish Republic came into being. In the past 80 years, many Turkish statesmen have studied there, among them Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

They have not always been popular, however, at various times being shut down by secular governments, and it has been claimed that not separating religion from education slows down the modernization of Turkey, although some sociologists have argued otherwise.

"The schools can have a positive impact so that religion and modernity can work together," Kenan Cayir, assistant professor of sociology at Istanbul's Bilgi University, told AA. 

The Turkish state offers BA, MA, and PhD scholarships to the foundation's schools for countries with economic and social problems - among them the southern Philippines, which has been wracked by an insurgency for close to 40 years.

The foundation has its own way of teaching.

“Diyanet foundation gives only Imam Hatip and Ilahiyat [Islamic theology] scholarships, with the aim of being able to interpret the religious thoughts, not only memorize or recite,” said foundation Vice Director Uyar.

The schools - in Kayseri, Konya, Istanbul and Turkey's capital Ankara - already have around 2000 students from 93 different countries. Founded in 1975, the scholarships play an essential role in representing the nation outside of its borders.

Outside of the scholarships, the Turkish Religious Affairs and the Philippines Muslims National Commission have also organized for 25 Filipino Muslim preachers and officials to attend training on religious affairs in Turkey from local Diyanet foundation experts.

Yasmin Busran, the head of the Philippines Muslims National Commission in the country's capital Manila, told AA that the commission used "to use Saudi Arabia as its model,” but has now turned to Turkey.

She said that instead of classic Arab teaching with a sole focus on Islam, the commission now prefers to combine both religion and modern science. 

"We are now slowly adapting our educational style to the Turkish model, as most of our students - particularly those in small cities and rural areas - are far from science classes and have only ever focused on core Islamic teachings," she added.

The Diyanet Foundation has shown Philippine Muslim education the way.

Since the 1970s, armed groups have been fighting for independence for the Philippines’ south, determined to earn what they term "a better life" for the predominantly Catholic country's Muslim population.

However, in March 2014, the government and the country's then largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, signed a peace pact - the culmination of diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the conflict in Mindanao.

It aims to bring to a close an insurgency that began in the 1970s and has killed more than 120,000 people - mostly civilians - and left large parts of the country’s fertile southern region mired in poverty.

www.aa.com.tr/en