09 October 2021 17:11

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's spouse Emine Erdoğan expressed her happiness inaugurate  the reopening of the Üsküdar Küplüce Cahit Zarifoğlu Primary School which was first opened in 1908 with the participation of Turkish Anthem's poet Akif Ersoy and thanked all especially the Ministry of National Education officials for their contribution to the restoration of the school building.

Emine Erdoğan gave the good news on the opening of 100 kindergartens

Emine Erdoğan gave the good news that construction of new kindergarten buildings in İstanbul started and went on to say: "Education means future. Education is a preparation of future from start to end. Every investment made for education is the biggest investment for the future. There are some crucial periods in the development of children. Scientists believe that the first 6 years of human life is very important for the development of a child. 50 percent of mental development of children is completed between 0 to 4 years and 30 percent is completed between 4 to 6 years. In other words, these are the years when children are open to education most. Due to this reason, construction of 100 new kindergarten buildings began in İstanbul for the dissemination of preschool education. In 2022, there will be 100 new kintergardens and 792 classrooms in İstanbul."

Emine Erdoğan stressed that the quality of education in early age increased the success of students and attendance to education and possibility to enroll in university programs.

Noting that preschool education has micro and macro level advantages in the long term, Emine Erdoğan said: "As sooner students have access to quality of education at a young age, their future will be brighter. Students from disadvantaged groups have the chance to have equal opportunity in education and fill the gap."

Mrs. Erdoğan pointed out that the Ministry of National Education increased the number of kindergartens which was 39 before 2003 to 157 and new 100 school buildings will respond an important need.

"Safe addresses are extremely important"

President Erdoğan's spouse Emine Erdoğan noted that preschool education has also great importance for mothers adding that, "There is no doubt that women's participation to work life has a vital role in women's empowerment. Stronger families are the outcome of women's empowerment. However, women face dilemma when they fail to find a kindergarten for their children. Childcare has the utmost importance for mothers. At this point, safe addresses are extremely important."

Stating that preschool education will provide opportunity for children to learn more about themselves and develop their analytic thinking ability, Mrs. Erdoğan said children improved their social and communication skills, problem solving ability and aesthetics sense.

Mrs. Erdoğan stressed that screen addiction is increasing among children and life of a child is taking place within the walls of their homes in city life adding that, "Changing city life and place of technology in our lives are changing the life of children, too. Children are always dealing with smart phones and computers. According to a survey, a 2 year old child spends 17 hours in front of a screen during a week, this figure rose to 25 hours when the child reaches 3 years old."

There are 19 classrooms, a conference hall, a cafeteria, one special education classroom and one support education room in the new building of the school

Making a speech at the ceremony, Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer said that there are 19 classrooms, a conference hall, a cafeteria, one special education classroom and one support education room in the new building of the school. Özer said that he enjoyed the excitement of opening of a modern school building in İstanbul and also introducing 100 Kindergartens for İstanbul Project.

Özer expressed his gratitude to Emine Erdoğan for supporting this project that will disseminate preschool education and provide equal education opportunities for students adding that, "Since 2002 to today, we have achieved important development in education under the leadership of President Erdoğan. We have made important investments in every level of education and provided easy access of every part of society to education."

"We can clearly see the reflection of these important investments to the quality of education through all education indicators. Since 2002, schooling figures and number of students in secondary education increased by three times and these figures increased by two times in primary education. Number of classrooms showed similar increase. With these improvements, number of students per classroom and teacher in every level of education decreased and almost reached to the level of OECD country figures."

Stressing that all these improvements resulted in positive education performance, Özer noted, "Our students ranked first in the grades of Turkish, Science and Math literacy in the PISA survey which is conducted by OECD in every three years although number of students in our country increased most than other OECD countries. We also have been achieving important success in TIMSS survey since 1999. These international results verify quality increase of our education system."

Number of kindergarten classrooms will increase to 1749 after the construction of 100 new kindergarten buildings in İstanbul

Minister Özer stated that there is a direct relationship  between equal opportunity in education and accession to preschool education adding that: "It is crucial to provide free access for disadvantaged family children to preschool education. Due to this reason, one of our priorities is to disseminate preschool education."

Mentioning the importance of preschool education for the long term success of students, Özer said that President Erdoğan has taken this point into consideration since 2002 and the Ministry has increased the number of preschool buildings by seven times and schooling rate in preschool education reached 71 percent under the leadership of President Erdoğan. 

"We are taking a new step in an effort to take these improvements to a higher level. Number of kindergarten classrooms will increase to 1749 after the construction of 100 new kindergarten buildings in İstanbul with this project," said Özer.  

Student Havva Betül Özdil recited Cahit Zarifoğlu's poem "Sultan" at the ceremony.

Following the speeches, Mrs. Erdoğan and Minister Özer visited kintergarten class at the school and they chatted and played games with children.

Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer's spouse Nebahat Özer, İstanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya and his spouse Hatice Nur Yerlikaya, İstanbul Provincial Director of National Education Levent Yazıcı, school teachers and students were also present at the ceremony.