Imam Hatip High Schools were opened 72 years ago

The Medresetü-l Eimmeti vel Hutaba, which was opened in 1913 to train imam hatip and later became Medresetü-l İrşad, can be accepted as the root of today's imam hatip high schools. These schools continued their lives until the Unification Law dated March 3, 1924. Between the years 1930-1948, religious education was given in the Quran courses opened under the Directorate of Religious Affairs. [8] When it was stated in a report that the Quran courses were insufficient to train "intellectual clergymen", the practice of training religious service officers in "imam hatip courses" affiliated with the Ministry of National Education began in 1949. By the end of 1949, 50 people graduated from Imam Hatip Courses for 10 months, where secondary school graduates were admitted to military service. The duration of the courses was later increased to two years, and vocational school graduates were also allowed to enter the courses. The Democrat Party, which came to power after the 1950 elections, opened the Imam Hatip Schools (İHO) in the first year of its rule, as it had promised the election periods. Imam Hatip Schools, the first period of which is 4 years and the second period is 3 years, and constituting a whole, was opened in 7 provinces in the period 1951-1952. Free boarding students started to be accepted to Imam Hatip Schools for the first time in the 1963-1964 academic year. While the number of IHO was 45 in 1965, this number increased to 65 in 1966-67 and 84 in 1967-68. With a regulation published on May 22, 1972, Imam Hatip Schools were turned into a vocational school providing education for 4 years after secondary school and the right to study in all programs of higher education was abolished for those who graduated from high school. A period called February 28 Process started in the negotiations about fundamentalism in the National Security Council that convened on February 28, 1997. Two applications during the period of February 28 negatively affected the imam hatip high schools. [1] One of them is the closure of secondary education departments in imam hatip high schools as a result of the 8-year uninterrupted education; The other is that the coefficient application in the university exams prevents graduates from entering the university outside their own fields. The eight-year uninterrupted education law numbered 4306, which was enacted on August 16, 1997 during the period of Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz, was a turning point for these schools, as the secondary school part of IHLs was closed. With the law, imam-hatip high schools have become 4-year high schools. With the Law on the Amendment of Primary Education and Education Law and Some Laws, secondary school departments of imam hatip high schools were reopened in the 2012-2013 academic year and 5th grade students started to be enrolled in these schools.