STUDENT - TEACHER SUPPORT SYSTEM INTRODUCED TO THE PUBLIC

13 October 2022 12:06

Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer said during the ceremony organized at the MEB Meeting Hall that, "For the first time, we have activated a system that provides an individualized support mechanism for all secondary and high school students. Of course, it is just the beginning. We will continue to improve and update the system. It is open to all secondary, high school, open secondary and high school students and their teachers. The system can also be used by graduates who want to enter YKS exams."
 
Noting that there has been an important transformation in education in the last twenty years, Özer reminded that schooling rates in all levels of education except from primary education was below 50 percent in the 2000s.
 
"Most permanent capital of a country, its human resources and education is the most important instrument that increases the quality of human resources. OECD countries increased their schooling rates over 90 percent and reached 100 percent but we were 70 years late. In the 2000s, the schooling rate of five year old children was 11 percent and it is 94 percent today. Schooling rate in secondary education was 44 percent and it is 95 percent. Schooling rate in higher education was 14 percent and it is 48 and a half today. Number of classrooms increased from 300 thousand to 857 thousand. Number of teachers increased from 500 thousand to 1.2 million. 700 thousand of these teachers were appointed in the last twenty years. There was a headscarf ban in this country. We have lifted all antidemocratic practices in education," stressed Özer.
 
Concerning coefficient practice, Özer noted that this practice caused academically successful students to alienate from imam hatip and vocational high schools. Özer stated that Türkiye completed the massification of the education process at the end of 20 years.
 
"Schooling rate of female students in high school education is 94,66 percent"
Özer mentioned that there is disinformation and speculation about the schooling rate of female students adding that his Ministry updated related data by using their own archives and collecting information from the records of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and TÜİK.
 
"We see that the schooling rate in secondary education exceeded 95 percent. In the 2000s, the schooling rate of female students in secondary education was 39,02 percent and it is 94,66 percent today and it is almost 95 percent. Schooling rate in primary schools is 99,63 percent, in other words 100 percent. There are no unschooled female students. This rate in secondary school is 99,44 percent and it is 95,06 in high schools. We also check the records about open secondary schools. 142 thousand and 326 students are enrolled in the open secondary schools. 7 thousand and 744 of these students are under 18 years old and the remaining 134 thousand and 552 students are older than 18. There are 1 million 112 thousand and 765 students enrolled in open high schools; 232 thousand and 152 students are under 18 years old 111 thousand and 739 of them are female students," stated Özer.
 
"A new department in the Ministry will reach every one of them"
Özer said that they have founded a new department in the Ministry in order to reach every student who are enrolled in high school education and offer them the best suitable option.
 
"We will give them information about formal, vocational and open high school options. Our concern is to encourage them to go back to school. We are grateful to our President for the successful 20 years. This year, the budget of our Ministry exceeded 300 billion and we use these resources in the most productive way possible in order to maintain safe, healthy and well equipped school environments," said Özer.
 
"10,000 Schools in Secondary Education Project will be implemented in 2023"
Özer mentioned that his Ministry carried out projects in order to increase schooling rate in preschool education and reinforce vocational education. He went on to say that the Ministry will implement 10,000 Schools in Secondary Education Project in 2023 with the purpose of maintaining equal opportunities at all schools and equipping them with the same infrastructure, same labs, same libraries and same information technologies. 
 
He reminded another priority of his Ministry is to support personal and professional training programs of teachers. The Ministry adopted three approaches; first is school based training programs, second is the Mobility Program for Teachers and School Administrators and third is the Professional Development Societies.
 
After the establishment of the Teacher Information Network, the training program per teacher which was 44 hours in 2020 and 92 hours in 2021 increased 192 in the first ten months of 2022. The goal for the Ministry is 120 hours.
  
Despite manipulations, teachers showed great interest to career steps system
Stressing that Teacher Profession Law was a sixty year old dream and some circles are trying to manipulate the career steps system, Özer said that despite manipulations, 95 percent of teachers applied in order to become head and expert teachers. He stated that 99 percent of those teachers have completed required training programs and 98 percent of them applied in order to enter the exam.
  
Özer reminded that the Ministry carried out many social projects in order to increase accession to education adding that they have distributed 140 million free supplementary sources at the beginning of the school year.
 
He stressed that the Ministry directly allocated 4 and a half billion liras to schools for the new school year preparations.  
 
"The next century will be the century of Türkiye"
Reminding that he had attended the Transforming Education Summit last month in New York with President Erdoğan, Minister Özer went on to say that: "All education ministers mentioned what they must do in order to make their education systems more resilient. We see that the Republic of Türkiye has already achieved this process even though the population of the majority of those countries is less than the number of students in our education system. It is because our government prioritizes education and bureaucrats of our ministry are working day and night in order to increase the quality of our Ministry. With Allah's permission, like our esteemed President declared earlier, the next century will be the century of Türkiye."