President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the ceremony held in the Beştepe Nation and Culture Center on the occasion of the appointment of 20 thousand new teachers.

 

"We achieved a very big transformation in education by eliminating barriers that prevented the development of our country in the last twenty years," said President Erdoğan.

 

Expressing his happiness to be with teachers on their special day of their professional lives, Erdoğan stated, "I would like to congratulate each and every one of the newly appointed 20 thousand teachers. I wish you success in your new posts."

 

President Erdoğan noted that the total number of teachers in the education system will increase to 1 billion and 10 thousand with the new appointments adding that, "In 2002, when we assumed the responsibility to govern this country, there were only 526 thousand teachers in the new country. 750 thousand of existing teachers were appointed during our governments. Previously, most of the classes were idle due to lack of teachers and infrastructure. Our children were studying in overcrowded and unhealthy classrooms not only in rural areas but also in metropolitans."

 

Stressing that his governments have ended this period when there were 60, 70 and 80 students in the same class, President Erdoğan went on to say that, "We have reached the OECD average in the number of students per teacher figure. We completely solved the overcrowded classrooms problem."

 

Erdoğan reminded them that they have increased the budget allocated to education from 10,3 billion to 304 billion liras and the number of classrooms from 343 thousand to 613 thousand.

 

"We equipped schools with libraries, labs, workshops and sports centers, we distributed free textbooks and supplementary sources to students and achieved a very big transformation by lifting all barriers that prevented the development of our country," said President Erdoğan.

 

Noting that they have corrected unfair practices against women that were imposed during the February 28 process that claimed their rights of education and employment due to their decision to wear headscarf, President Erdoğan went on to say that:

 

"Today, 60 percent of teachers working actively in our schools are women. Civil servants are no longer forced to make a choice between their faith and profession. Everybody who wants to serve their country can fulfill their duties freely and without facing any limitation or restriction," added President Erdoğan.

 

Meanwhile, Minister of National Education Özer noted during his speech at the ceremony that the country has achieved a three-dimensional development in education in the last twenty years.

 

"First dimension was to reach the schooling rates of OECD countries.  For the first time in the history of the country, the schooling rate in all levels of education reached 90 percent during the last twenty years. In the 2000s, the schooling rate of five year old children was 11 percent and today it is 93 percent. Schooling rate in secondary education was 44 percent and it is higher than 90 percent today. During the same period, net schooling rate in higher education increased from 14 percent to 48,5 percent. OECD countries that we compete today achieved these figures in the 1950s and they focused on increasing the quality of education in the last seventy years. Unfortunately, Türkiye was seventy years late to achieve this development," said Özer.

 

Özer stated that the second dimension was lifting antidemocratic practices in the education system.

 

"We can all still remember... There was a headscarf band. Our women were forced to wait outside the education institutions in their own country. Those who speak about violence against women today were reluctant to react against the headscarf violence. Those who complain about brain drain today were mute when our women left their own country in order to enroll in higher education institutions in other countries. Especially academically successful students were estranged from imam-hatip and vocational high schools. We have lifted the headscarf ban and coefficient practice and we also provided our students the opportunity to learn the life of our prophet and religious knowledge through elective courses. For the first time, teachers wearing headscarves are employed in our schools. In other words, we have lifted all anti-democratic practices and used human resources with maximum productivity in the last twenty years," said Özer.

 

Concerning quality in education, Minister Özer went on to say that:

 

"Unfortunately, quality is used like a Trojan horse in this country. Growth in the education system does not prevent quality. Those who talk about quality today are the ones who prevented our children from enrolling in the education institution system they like in the past. This is why we are seventy years late. Under the leadership of our President, a great majority of our people have had access to education in the last twenty years."

 

Özer stressed that Türkiye has been improving its results in the international student success surveys such as PISA and TIMMS in the last twenty years.

 

"During this period, we also decreased the number of students per teacher in the education system. In the 2000s, the number of students per teacher was above 40 and the number of students in a classroom was higher than 40 and 50 although the schooling rate in secondary education was 44 percent. Today, this schooling rate is above 90 percent and we continue to increase the number of teachers in our education system with the support of our President Erdoğan," noted Özer.

 

Özer said that there are 19 million students and 1.2 million teachers in the education system and this figure is higher than the total population of many countries.

 

Özer went on to say that:

 

"In the 2000s, there were 500 thousand teachers in the education system and today there are 1,2 million teachers. This figure will increase with the new appointments and we will be stronger," stated Özer.

 

Candidates can see the results in https://pbs.meb.gov.tr/  or   https://www.turkiye.gov.tr/milli-egitim-sozlesmeli-ogretmenlik-atama-sonucu-sorgulama by using their own personal e-State password.