Minister Tekin evaluated the new academic year and answered questions in the live broadcast of Habertürk in Adana.
Wishing the new academic year to be auspicious, Minister Tekin said that they attended programs and visited Hatay, İskenderun district and Osmaniye, which were affected by the earthquake today.
Stating that there are approximately 3.5 million students in 11 provinces affected by the earthquakes on February 6, centered in Kahramanmaraş, Tekin continued as follows:
“Before the earthquake, we had 10 thousand 539 schools in all 11 provinces. In other words, we calculate based on classrooms rather than schools. When we look at the number of classrooms, we have 114 thousand 675 classrooms. When we look at those affected by the earthquake, 936 of our schools were either destroyed, heavily damaged or It is moderately damaged and the necessary inspections are under construction, and when we look at it in terms of classrooms, we have 11 thousand 728 classrooms, that is, 936 schools. Now, we have taken serious measures here.
First of all, when we look at the total of 11 thousand 700 classrooms as steel or prefabricated structures, 2 thousand 573 new classrooms have been put into service. In addition to these, we have students who carry out education in containers. “There are also instructions for us to meet the need for schools in the region from the investment budget in order to carry out the process quickly upon the instructions of our President.”
Stating that they organized earthquake-focused meetings to coordinate the process, Tekin underlined that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is following the process closely.
Making evaluations about the completion time of the schools damaged in the earthquake, Minister Tekin continued his speech as follows:
“In total, we are missing around 11 thousand classrooms, but we have already built 2 thousand 573 classrooms. Our need for 11 thousand classrooms has decreased to 9 thousand classrooms. We will build some of these, approximately 4 thousand classrooms, as steel structures with the instructions of our President, and therefore we will build a large part of them. The majority will be ready for the beginning of the academic year next spring.
A significant part of them will be grown in the spring of 2024. In fact, there are steel structures still under construction in September and October, so they will be completed, too. Our goal is to meet the education needs here in terms of classrooms and our deficiencies in the classrooms in the next September, that is, after 1 year, we are making such an effort, I hope we can achieve this.”
Tekin emphasized that there is no student left in the earthquake zone who cannot receive education.
Emphasizing that 21,500 students were studying in containers in all 11 provinces affected by the earthquakes, and that the healthy schools were included in the scope of dual education, Tekin said, “Regarding the construction process, our calendar is to reach the number of classrooms in these 11 provinces in September, before the earthquake.” said.
Stating that approximately 220 thousand teachers were affected in the earthquake region, Tekin said that these teachers were contacted personally by the provincial principals.
Stating that the existing and newly appointed teachers in the earthquake area were contacted to see if they needed accommodation, Tekin said, “It became clear that we needed places to accommodate approximately 11 thousand teachers in these 11 provinces. They made such a request from us. We asked each of them ‘how many of you are, together. ‘Are you going to stay, your spouse, your child, who else is with you?’ “By asking these questions, containers were created to accommodate all of them under the coordination of our Ministry of Internal Affairs and AFAD. Therefore, we carried out this in such an operation.” he said.
Regulation change
Tekin also explained the changes regarding the Regulation on Amendments to the Regulation on Secondary Education Institutions of the Ministry of National Education.
Pointing out that the issue of “grade repetition” was also mentioned by teachers, Tekin said, “Grade repetition is important both for the healthy functioning of the student’s education process and for our teacher friends to be able to practice their profession in a healthy way.” made his assessment.
Regarding the regulations made regarding the transition to open education, Minister Tekin said, “There are actually many reasons for this. One of them is that we wanted to prevent this because we saw an intense tendency towards these under-the-counter courses. The second is that we, the children, that is, the curriculum of the schools within the Ministry of National Education, the school curriculum.” It is an interrelated period that starts from before and ends with the 12th grade. Therefore, it is a risk for us that the child who continues for 9 years or 10 years leaves this process at 11 and 12. The main thing for us is to evaluate our children within the scope of formal education. Open education or What we call open high school in Turkey is actually fictionally designed as an opportunity for our children who are excluded from formal education or who cannot receive formal education for other reasons, especially health. Otherwise, children who can go to normal school and continue formal education are already receiving education when they go. system is down, which is an important thing for us. We want to raise the children entrusted to us in the best possible way,” he said.
Minister of National Education Tekin said that they created a series of suggestions regarding private schools collapsed in earthquake zones and the employees working there and shared them with the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
Teacher appointments
On the question about teachers waiting for appointment, Tekin said:
“As the Minister of National Education, I wish and want new teachers to come to us. According to our calculations, we shared the figures we need with our Minister of Treasury and Finance and the Presidency’s Strategy and Budget Directorate. Ultimately, the mechanisms that create the budget are there. Now the 2024 budget will be created. We will tell you what the total public sector will be within the 2024 budget.” A figure will be revealed indicating how many personnel will be employed. Then they will share this with us.
It will be said; They will say, ‘We will authorize you to employ this many teachers from this figure.’ We will act on it. It is not possible to give a number now, but let me say this; “This year, it will take some time as we want to turn the interview process into a smooth interview process regarding the employment of our teacher friends.”