Former TRT Announcer Sırrı Er: Losing Teachers Means Losing a Part of the Future

Today is September 14. The 2026–2027 academic year has begun.

Approximately 17 million students and 1.2 million teachers have returned to schools. I wish all our children, young people, and teachers a new academic year filled with health, peace, and success.

Yet on the first day of the new school year, we must remember not only the teachers who have returned to their classrooms, but also the tens of thousands who have been excluded from the education system through unlawful practices.

Because this is not merely an issue concerning one professional group.

It is a question of how we approach the rule of law, justice, and the right to education.

It is stated that approximately 35,000 teachers were dismissed under emergency decrees, while another 20,000 have reportedly been prevented from continuing their profession in private schools. If these figures are accurate, they point to a deeply troubling reality: around 55,000 teachers have been kept away from the education sector for nearly a decade.

This is a situation that demands serious reflection.

Removing a teacher from the classroom does not simply change that teacher’s life. It also means losing the knowledge, experience, guidance, and human connection that teacher could have offered to generations of students.

A country’s future is measured by how well it protects and preserves its educated human resources.

Losing teachers means losing an important part of the future.

It is difficult to comprehend.

Education is not merely about textbooks and classrooms. Education means enabling people to develop themselves, think independently, question what they see, and build their own future. Teachers are among the most essential people in that process.

That is precisely why every injustice affecting teachers, their profession, or their labor concerns society as a whole.

Nelson Mandela’s well-known words on education take on particular significance here:

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

If so, we cannot give up on education.

We cannot give up on teachers.

And above all, we cannot give up on justice.

Hearing the voices of teachers who have been unable to secure appointments, who have suffered injustice, or who have been subjected to unlawful treatment—and refusing to leave them alone in their pursuit of their rights—is essential to building a more livable country.

Because seeking one’s rights is sacred.

As the new academic year begins, our wish should not be limited to ensuring that our children receive a good education.

We should also demand an education system in which no teacher is removed from their profession through unlawful measures, no one is left alone simply for seeking their rights, and justice operates equally for everyone.

A more livable country can only be built on a foundation where justice reaches everyone.

Every small but meaningful step taken today can become another brick in the construction of a fairer country tomorrow.

May the new academic year bring goodness and success to all our students and teachers.

And let us not forget:

Defending a teacher’s rights means defending not only one teacher, but also the future that teacher could help build.