ANKARA
Turkey's government on Thursday submitted to parliament a bill which proposes transforming private tutoring centers, known as 'dershane' in Turkey into conventional private schools by September 1, 2015.
Those which become private schools will be supported by the government.
Student study centres will only serve students aged 12 and under, and the teachers working at dershanes might be employed at public schools.
The draft bill aims at enabling the transformation of dershanes into private schools to adopt the necessary legal regulations both for functional reasons and the institutional organization of the Turkey's educational system, and to provide more efficient educational services.
Turkey's government's decision to transform dershanes in Turkey has been a source of controversy in the country.
Privately run low-cost tutorial centres (dershane) in Turkey act as supplementary education for students who want to enter elite high schools and prestigious universities. Many parents send their children to dershane programs in which students receive intense curriculum training and learn testing techniques in a bid to offer them a better education opportunity in the future.
Many of the dershanes belong to a religious establishment called "Jamaat" or "Gulen movement" named after the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen who lives in the US. The group has been sternly opposing the plans to close down dershanes.
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