Minister Özer attended "Use of Technology, Problems, Solutions and Content Development Workshop" organized to address technological developments and transformation and to evaluate Türkiye's situation regarding the effects of the transformation in technology on society. Workshop aimed to access digital content and examine the concept of social engineering and to identify problems and to propose solutions to these problems. Minister Özer stated that Türkiye has entered the universalization period for the first time in the last two decades, which OECD countries completed in the 1950s, in order to reach the 'Century of Türkiye'.
Stating that huge investments have been made so that children can easily access education. Özer also said that important social policies have come into play to strengthen equality of opportunity in education.
Özer noted that the social policies in education in the last nineteen years, from conditional education aid to free meals, textbooks and scholarships, are worth 525 billion liras in 2022. Stating that anti-democratic practices such as the headscarf ban and the coefficient regulation in access to education have been removed, Özer said that the country has experienced very dramatic events such as preventing vertical mobility in social classes, and putting barriers for children from learning their religion. He stated that in the last two decades, under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, these problems have been resolved decisively with unity and solidarity and the educational infrastructure of the transition to the 'Century of Türkiye' has been completed.
"For the first time in the history of the Republic of Türkiye, we will have increased the schooling rate to 99 percent at all levels of education"
Minister Özer stated that the schooling rate at the age of five has risen from 11 percent to 99 percent, to 99.63 percent in primary school, to 99.44 percent in secondary school and to 95 percent in high school. He said, as of March 2023, for the first time in the history of the Republic of Türkiye they will increase schooling rate to 99 percent in all levels of education by offering the best favorable solution to 280 thousand unregistered students. Expressing that the first step of equality of opportunity in education is to access education and the second is to ensure accessibility to quality education, Özer stated that Turkey has constantly increased its score and ranking in international student achievement research, and improved the quality while ensuring popularization.
Expressing that the Ministry of National Education is also making efforts to train qualified human resources, Özer said that they are constantly working to increase the quality of education in vocational education and other fields. Stating that science and art centers offer additional support to develop students' abilities, Minister Özer stated that the number of these centers increased from 185 to 379 in two years. He stated that they aim to establish a science and art center in each district in 2023.
A culture of intellectual property is being popularized in basic and secondary education
Sharing that the average number of products registered by the students and teachers in the last ten years was 2.9, Özer stated that they opened 50 R&D centers with the honor of the President, and then they started a prevalent education process related to intellectual property in primary and secondary education. He said that they registered 8 thousand 300 products and commercialized 162 of them.
Emphasizing intellectual property, utility models, brand registrations and patents, are the core areas developed countries invest in, Özer stated that awareness on intellectual property should be spread in basic and secondary education in order to raise generations to produce technology. Özer said as part of this purpose they cooperated with the Patent and Trademark Office.
Pointing to the breakthroughs in digitalization, Özer said that in addition to the Education Information Network (EBA), they established the Teacher Information Network (ÖBA), an information network platform for teachers, for the first time. He added that thanks to the ÖBA, they provide all teachers with an average of 250 hours of training in 2022.
"Student and Teacher Support platform has reached 15 million users in two months"
Reminding that 160 million supplementary resources were provided to all students free for the first time in the 2022-2023 academic year, Özer said that they created a digital platform under the name of Student-Teacher Support Platform (ÖDS) that allows students to determine and improve their own levels and reached 15 million users in 2 months.
Stating that with Turkish and English Digital Platform and HEMBA, which encompasses all the public education center courses for adults, Özer said, three new digital platforms will be included in the education system in 2023. He added that as the Ministry, they make great efforts to support teachers, students and parents through digital platforms, and to incorporate all kinds of technology into education.
Emphasizing the need to pay attention to addiction in all digital processes, Özer said that as the soldiers of the "Century of Türkiye" they should raise children's awareness and must support them constantly to make them stronger against the harms of technology as well as help them benefit from all kinds of technology. Saying that he hopes to obtain the roadmap after the workshop, Özer ends his speech by thanking participants.