ANKARA
The general assembly of Turkish Parliament will convene on Thursday to pass a comprehensive bill on education, which includes articles on 3550 private tutoring centers - known as 'dershane' - all over Turkey.
The ‘National Education Basic Law’, known as the ‘Dershane bill’, was one of the most important topics of discussion on the national agenda, before an anti-graft operation launched on December 17.
The first article of the law was passed early Thursday.
However, Turkey’s MP's mainly discussed the recent incidents about the "wiretapping scandal" and "anti-graft operation" in the general assembly, instead of the bill's content.
Speaking at the general assembly, Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Nur Serter said that the ruling AK Party was sacrificing the youth for settling a score with the Gulen Movement.
The Gulen movement runs close to 20 percent of dershanes in the country.
Another CHP deputy, Mahmut Tanal claimed at the general assembly that the law violated the Turkish constitution.
Accusing the Turkish Prime Minister of corruption, CHP's MP Oguz Oyan said that the debate at the general assembly was not about the ‘dershane bill’ but immediate elections.
The AK Party's group deputy chairman, Ahmet Aydin, replied to the accusations of the main opposition party, saying, "A thief assumes that everyone is a thief. If you bother to look in the mirror and your history, you will see who the real thief was."
At the end of the debate, National Education Minister Nabi Avci addressed the assembly in response to the MPs' questions over the whole bill.
According to the latest figures, there are 3550 dershanes in Turkey with almost 1.5 million students, 53,000 teachers, and 14,000 auxiliary staff, Avci stated.
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