Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer stressed during the launch ceremony organized at the Gölbaşı Mogan Vocational and Technical Anatolia High School Practice Hotel that in addition to education, the state has been providing overall service to people in the last twenty years in Türkiye.

 

"Last 20 years witnessed three-dimensional development. First of all, there is massification. There has been an important campaign in an effort to increase schooling rates in all levels of education. Secondly, we have achieved democratization in education. It was a period when all antidemocratic practices such as headscarf ban, coefficient practices and elective course limits were lifted and when we responded to social demands. Thirdly, we focused on quality while achieving these developments. It is a success story. We have maintained constant improvement while the number of students doubled. This is what Türkiye achieved," said Özer.

 

Özer stated that there was a period in the past when people made accusations without providing any opportunity adding that they have been providing all kinds of opportunities without making any discrimination in the last twenty years.

 

"When we consider the results of international student success surveys like PISA and TIMSS, we see that Türkiye has been gradually improving its grades in the lists. We have rehabilitated all negative impacts in the last twenty years. This period was the time when we increased the quality of education in all levels of education," stated Özer.

 

Minister Özer noted that there had been problems concerning mathematics for many years adding that "We were sweeping them under the carpet and we tried to ignore them. For the first time, we accept this problem and we take steps in order to solve it. We are working night and day in order to detect our mistakes, set goals and take steps in order to achieve these goals."

 

Minister Özer mentioned the projects carried out by his Ministry in order to improve preschool education.

 

He said, "Preschool education is the key to equal opportunities in education. It is the permanent solution of decreasing success differences among schools. At the same time, it is the most important level of education in raising the quality of human resources. Preschool education does not only develop cognitive skills; it is also the key education policy about raising children who develop other skills, who learn how to share and work together and complete their psychosocial and emotional development."

 

Minister Özer also mentioned about the project aiming at inaugurating three thousand new kindergartens.

 

"When we initiated this project, there were 2 thousand and 872 kindergartens in 922 districts and 81 cities of the country. We have decided to open three thousand kindergartens. As of today, we inaugurated 1,210 kindergartens and we will open a total of 3,000 kindergartens by the end of this year. Schooling rate of five year old children was 78 percent when we started this project and we increased this figure to 93 percent and the schooling rate of five year old children will reach 100 percent by the end of this year," said Özer.

 

Concerning transformation in vocational education, Özer noted that the number of students enrolled in vocational education centers increased from 159 thousand to 658 thousand.

 

"Mathematics is a language. It is a language that is essential for all of us," said Özer, "We are working in an effort to change the paradigm about mathematics. All children and adults must learn mathematics. It is because mathematics is the most important instrument for understanding life, reading the data hidden in life and making projections to the future in a rational way. Due to this reason, there were banners in the past saying that those who do not know geometry cannot enter at the doors of philosophers," noted Özer.

 

Minister Özer stressed that his Ministry has been working in an effort to solve problems concerning mathematics within a short period of time and said that the first of this effort was the mathematics summer schools.

 

The Ministry has opened science and arts summer schools at the Science and Arts Centers. It also opened free mathematics courses for students from 4th grade to 12th grade. Approximately one million students attended mathematics and English summer courses this summer.

 

"Today, we are launching the Mathematics Digital Education Platform which is the last step of our mathematics campaign. It includes teaching materials and mind games that children from all levels of education can enjoy. It is a start and we will improve the platform with the support of TÜBİTAK," stated Özer.

 

Click to visit the Mathematics Digital Education Platform.