In his speech after the Disaster Coordination Meeting in Adıyaman Governor’s Office, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin expressed his condolences to those who lost their lives in the earthquakes, their relatives and the entire nation.
Wishing that such disasters would not occur once again, Tekin emphasized that significant progress had been made despite the fact that 4 months had passed since the earthquake.
Tekin stated that as of February 6, the state, the nation, public institutions and non-governmental organizations have declared mobilization and carried out an unprecedented process in the world, and continued as follows:
“Everyone in the region has tried to heal the wounds by making the maximum of the sacrifice they can do. We express our gratitude to everyone who supported this effort, God bless them. We are constantly told by our President in every cabinet after 6 February to solve the problems of our citizens living in 11 provinces and heal their wounds as soon as possible. “I would like to express that it reminds us of the measures that need to be taken. We came here on the instruction of what kind of measures we can take and what kind of work we can do to do our part.”
“Education will start smoothly”
Explaining that all units in Adıyaman are carrying out serious studies and that they are evaluating the works that have started, Tekin said, “We have taken our measures regarding the issues that need to be taken, and we are in a position to say with peace of mind. I hope it will start. We would like to make this commitment here.” he said.
Tekin stated that the works will continue to improve the conditions in the region and continued his words as follows:
“In terms of National Education, 1176 of our 6,346 classrooms in Adıyaman, where education activities were carried out before the earthquake, are unusable. Therefore, these 1176 classrooms need to be rebuilt so that the old process can continue again. So far, 177 classrooms have been completed and education is ready. As of September, we are in a position to start the education process without any problems, together with other measures we will take. We will spend the summer months with these studies in a feverish manner. When September begins, the academic year will start without any problems, but we say this in every province we visit. When the reinforced concrete structures are completed, our current pre-earthquake number of classrooms will be the highest. “We will have opened a classroom with at least 10% more than 10% into service. Therefore, we will be continuing education in 7,000 classrooms in the next academic year,” he said.
“1628 teachers have been assigned to our city”
Explaining that there are 12 thousand 18 teachers in Adıyaman with those before the earthquake, he said:
“With the new 45 thousand appointments, 1628 teachers have been appointed to our province. We asked both our current teachers and newly appointed friends to contact our teachers one by one to meet their accommodation needs. We, together with the municipality, the governor’s office and the deputies, will meet the accommodation needs of our teachers who need accommodation when the academic year starts in September. We have different formulations, as well as the transformation of some of our hostels into teachers’ homes where they can stay, and education and training with quick solutions such as the creation of teacher shelters with steel construction structures. When the year starts, we will have solved the problems of these friends as well.”
Stating that they have taken measures to provide the psychosocial support that students need, Minister Tekin said:
“Both our summer courses and DYK courses will serve our students in terms of both academic and psychosocial support. Hopefully, we will start this process in a healthy way as of September. I would like to thank everyone for their support once again. We thank our governor, municipality and deputies.” According to what we call ‘the disaster of the century’, we are experiencing the same difficulties as the struggle for the War of Independence. We can overcome these difficulties together, as in the War of Independence. We thank those who contributed to this process. Our door is also open to philanthropists who want to support and contribute in the future. Thank you. We will be very happy if they contribute to us.”
Later, he moved to the AK Party Adıyaman Provincial Presidency and met with Provincial President Emrah Erkan Bulucu and the members of the organization, Minister Tekin, then visited the container city of Altınşehir and met with the earthquake victims.