In Turkey, an İmam Hatip school (, 'hatip' coming from Arabic khatib) is a secondary education institution. As the name suggests, they were founded in lieu of a vocational school to train government employed imams; after madrasas in Turkey were abolished by the Unification of Education Act ().
History
During the Ottoman Empire, a key objective of education was to raise 'good Muslims'. Thus there was a need for Islamic scholars, which was sustained through Islamic Theology Schools, called Madrasa. In 1913, the Medresetü-l Eimmeti vel Hutaba (School of ministers and preachers, ) and Medresetü-l Vaazin (Schools for Preachers, ) were combined to form the tangible origins of today's Imam Hatip high schools. In addition, research shows enrolment at Imam Hatip high schools was based solely on the student's decision. The third proposed factor in the rise in popularity of Imam Hatip schools is the admission of female students in 1976. By 1998, almost 100,000 females attended Imam Hatip high schools, making up almost half of all students. This statistic is particularly revealing because women are not eligible to become either priests or ministers.
By the mid-1990s, Imam Hatip schools were attracting some 11 percent of children in the relevant age group and developing into a parallel system of education. When the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in 2002, only about 2 percent of eligible children attended clerical schools. The reform in education introduced in March 2012 extended mandatory schooling to 12 years and divided into four years of primary school, four years of middle school and four years of high school.
Criticism
Since their creation in the 1950s, Imam Hatips have been controversial in the debate about Turkey's secular state. Kenan Cayir, assistant professor of sociology at Istanbul's Istanbul Bilgi University, says the schools can have a positive impact so that religion and modernity can be together. A survey conducted by the Turkey İmam-Hatip Alumni Foundation (TİMAV), revealed that the majority of Turks hold positive views about Imam Hatip schools. The survey, titled "Perception of İmam-Hatip High Schools and İmam-Hatip Students in Turkey", was conducted between April 24 and May 18, 2012 with 2,689 people in 26 provinces. Most of the respondents were not Imam Hatip graduates.