Thousands teachers, students boycott school in Turkey

Thousands of teachers and students across Turkey launched Friday a boycott of schools to protest the government's education system focusing more on religion teaching.

Organized by the United June Movement, the workers union, leftists parties and religious minority Alevi groups, thousands of protesters marched across Turkey, including the capital Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and Eskisehir, to demand a secular education system.

Police used water cannons to disperse the crowd in Izmir and at least 10 people across the country were reportedly detained.

The ruling Justice and Development Party AKP and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been changing the country's secular education system into a Islam-focused one.

The government lifted the headscarf ban in primary schools and increased the number of religious high schools. Some students visited science museums instead of attending classes. Endit