The new school year started on Monday as millions of students and teachers went back to classes for this year's educational marathon. The educational process in Turkey is a massive operation which covers more than 18 million students, which is a greater number than in most member states in the U.N. The budget of the Education Ministry has surpassed Turkey's defense budget, an extremely healthy sign for Turkey.There are still serious defects in our educational system and the ministry is struggling to correct them. Some are gigantic and it will need a more concerted effort, not only by the ministry but, by the office of the prime minister, and even the president. Amid all of this we have landed on a new controversial issue: Kurdish schools.At the start of the school year, the authorities closed down three "schools" that were designed for education in Kurdish. The authorities said the schools lacked all the criteria needed for new schools and did not have the necessary licenses from the Ministry of Education. Some were in makeshift buildings clearly not designed for proper schooling.The incident gave the impression that those who started these so-called schools had no intention of educating anyone in them and the whole purpose was to force their closure and make an issue out of it. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what they did. Turkey's Kurdish opposition took up the issue and lambasted the government, claiming it was violating the principle of educational freedom. These people are still up to the old tricks of trying to rally international support on sensitive areas like education.This is a nasty trick as the government is already struggling on many international fronts against campaigns of defamation. It is also does a disserve to the peace process with the Kurds of Turkey, which has been progressing well. While they play the "school card" against the Turkish government, the authorities, on the other hand, are commissioning Kurdish teachers in schools in southeastern Turkey for Kurdish classes. According to the law, the language of education is Turkish. But students are entitled to select classes for Kurdish education and the Ministry of Education is already sending teachers for these courses. Instead of highlighting this and applauding the Ministry, it is sad that the Ministry is being criticized for the closure of these so-called schools.Of course we should teach children in southeastern Turkey Kurdish, it is their native tongue after all. However, they should take the rest of their classes in Turkish so that they can enter universities across the country. Should we deny them the right to enter such universities like the Bosporus University, Istanbul Technical University, Hacettepe University, Middle East Technical University and many others by just teaching them courses in Kurdish?