MEB RAISED THE BAR FOR 2023 TARGETS

08 January 2023 09:46

Preschool target is 100 percent
Making an assessment on the Ministry's 2023 targets, Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer said, they will continue to work on the improvement of the education system for the future of the children, Özer stated that they are working to put 3 thousand new kindergartens into service in order to increase access to pre-school education in 2022. Adding that they have doubled the target capacity by opening 6 thousand 4 new kindergartens. He said that in 2023, they aim to increase the schooling rate at age 3 from 16 percent to 50 percent, at age 4 from 38 percent to 70 percent, and at age 5 from 99 percent to 100 percent.
 
Schooling rates at all levels of education will rise to 99 percent and above.
Aiming to increase the schooling rates above 95 percent in all levels of education in 2022, Özer said, the schooling rate has increased from 90 percent to 95 percent in secondary education, In line with the 2023 targets, he stressed that they aim to increase the schooling rates to 99 percent and above at all education levels, thanks to the early warning and tracking system.
 
The number of apprentices and journeymen will be 1 million 500 thousand
Noting that the number of apprentices and journeymen in vocational training centers has increased sevenfold and reached 1 million 200 thousand, Özer said that they aim to increase this number to 1 million 500 thousand for the next year.
 
200 million supplementary resources will be distributed for free
Reminding that 160 million supplementary resources were prepared and distributed to students at all grade levels for free, to increase equality of opportunity in education, Özer said, they aim to distribute 200 million for free in 2023.
 
All closed village schools will be reopened
Minister Özer noted that they started to reopen the village schools that are not actively used and transform them into village life centers. Stating that, 2 thousand 200 village life centers were reopened and converted into kindergartens, primary schools and public education centers as active education units that gather different generations under a single roof. Özer said their aim is to transform the village schools into village life centers.
 
Summer schools will continue
Reminding that they opened summer schools approximately 1 million students benefited for free, in four different fields for the first time including science, art, mathematics and English, Özer said that the summer school will continue in 2023.
 
Özer stated that psychological counseling and guidance services are provided to 8 million 70 thousand students, 193 thousand teachers and 1 million 705 thousand parents, at all educational levels in order to increase their awareness especially on substance abuse. He said that they will prepare a detailed program as part of "fight against addiction" and ensure the participation of 19.1 million students, 1.2 million teachers and 5 million parents in these trainings in accordance with their pedagogy together with the Ministry of Interior. 
 
ÖDS, whose content will be even richer, will be applied to all classes
Reminding that besides the supplementary resources, the "Student/Teacher Support System" (ÖDS) has been created to support the self-learning process of students, Özer said the platform determines the learning deficiencies of students in different fields and provides guidance to the right materials to overcome these deficiencies. Thus, the content of ÖDS will be enriched and expanded to cover all classes in 2023.
 
5 million students will benefit from free meals
Noting that 1.5 million students benefited from the free meal support, which is mainly used by the students staying in hostels and as part of mobile teaching, Özer said, they increased this number to 1.8 million by giving priority to preschool students and aim to increase the number of students benefiting from free meal support to over 5 million.
 
The number of books will be 150 million
Reminding that 16 thousand and 361 new libraries were built as part of "No More Schools Without Libraries" project, Özer said, the number of books in school libraries has increased from 28 million to 110 million and they aim to increase this number to 150 million by enriching reading resources in 2023.
 
The facilities of all high schools will be improved
Expressing that the projects implemented to reduce the differences in opportunities between schools will continue in 2023, Özer noted that the facilities of all high schools will be improved as part of the 10,000 Schools in Secondary Education Project.
 
The target is the registration of 10 thousand products.
In the first eleven months of 2022, the revolving fund income generated in vocational high schools increased to 2 billion liras. Stating that it is aimed to increase the total income to 3 billion liras in 2023, Özer said regarding intellectual property and industrial rights, 8,300 patents, utility models, designs and trademarks were registered and 162 of them were commercialized in 2022. In 2023, the Ministry aims to register 10,000 products and commercialize at least 5 percent of them.
 
15 million citizens will benefit from public education courses
Stating that a total of 13 million 386 thousand citizens benefited from public education centers within the scope of lifelong learning in 2022, Özer said that 15 million citizens will benefit from public education centers in 2023 and all course content in public education centers will be updated to support employment and transfer to a digital platform that enables (HEMBA: Public Education Center Information Network). After the digital platform is created, these courses will be opened to the use of citizens living abroad.
 
2.5 million families will benefit from the Family School project
Minister Özer noted that 1 million 110 thousand families benefited from the Family School project in 12 different fields such as values, ethics, communication, fight against addictions, environmental awareness, first aid and traffic information in order to support the Turkish family structure. He added that 2.5 million families are targeted to benefit from these trainings in 2023.
 
Teaching Profession Law will be improved with new regulations
Pointing out that the teaching profession is defined as a special profession with the "Teaching Profession Law", Minister Özer said: "98 percent of the teachers who met the requirements and completed their education applied for the exam and 99 percent of the teachers took the exam. As a result, 516 thousand 974 of our teachers became expert teachers and 66 thousand 679 expert teachers became head teachers. In 2023, it is aimed to make additional improvements regarding the employee personal rights of teachers with new regulations.
 
Public education center for disabled citizens
Stating that public education centers for disabled citizens were established for the first time in order to provide disabled citizens over the age of 18 with continuing education, Özer said that they have access to these centers for free. He added that it is aimed to expand these centers to all districts in 2023.
 
BİLSEM to all districts
Minister Özer stated that the number of BİLSEM was increased to 375 in 2022 in order to support the educational needs of gifted students and to increase the potential of talented students. He said that in 2023, they aim to establish BİLSEM in all districts and to facilitate students' access.
 
Reminding that 286 counseling and research centers (RAMs) were put into service in 2022, Özer stated that they will increase the number of RAMs to 300 by 2023.
 
All schools will be environmentally friendly
Reminding that the 'Environmentally Friendly 1000 Schools Project' was realized in order to enable students to gain environmental awareness by experience, Özer said, as part of the project 1000 environmentally friendly schools and 1 thousand 325 zero waste libraries were built. Minister added that in order to conserve energy in schools, a solar energy system (GES), which will produce 60 megawatt energy, will be installed in 1000 schools with high energy consumption.