Union leader Kuruoğlu calls on Ministry of Education: Stop burdening teachers with non-educational tasks

Hürriyetçi Eğitim Sen General President Levent Kuruoğlu made a public statement, criticizing the growing trend of diverting teachers away from their core responsibility of teaching. Instead, teachers are increasingly being assigned to administrative, promotional, and event-related tasks — a development he says is detrimental to education quality.

‘Teachers are being pulled away from their real duties’
Kuruoğlu highlighted that teachers are being asked to take photos and record videos for promotional campaigns led by school administrators. He also underlined the ethical issue of sharing student photos on social media without proper consent.

He further criticized the practice of assigning teachers to decorate bulletin boards, handle paperwork, and participate in events organized by provincial and district education directorates, municipalities, foundations, and associations. Kuruoğlu stressed that teachers should be shielded from such unrelated duties.

‘Constant tasks outside working hours violate personal time’
Kuruoğlu also voiced strong opposition to the constant flood of messages teachers receive in WhatsApp groups outside of official working hours, calling this a violation of personal life. Additionally, he condemned the pressure on teachers to post on their personal social media accounts using hashtags dictated by local education authorities.

He argued that teachers should not be tasked with duties falling under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, such as tracking students’ vaccinations, weight, dental, and eye health screenings. Removing these extra burdens would allow teachers to focus fully on education.

‘Teachers’ workload is constantly increasing’
Kuruoğlu reminded that teachers are already responsible for a wide range of additional duties, such as guidance counseling, social club activities, community service projects, and parent training programs. He urged the Ministry of National Education to show more trust in teachers.

Teachers are also deeply involved in projects like Teknofest, TÜBİTAK, eTwinning, and Language Diversity projects, which require substantial time and effort. Adding unnecessary administrative tasks on top of these responsibilities further strains educators, Kuruoğlu said.

Final call to the Ministry
Finally, Kuruoğlu called on the Ministry of National Education to eliminate non-educational burdens placed on teachers and ensure that they can fully concentrate on the teaching process.