Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk shared Turkey's education model designed for the Covid-19 pandemic with his counterparts from South-East Europe during the meeting.

 

"New Normal in Education in the New Normal" meeting hosted by Turkey was participated by Education Ministers and Education Ministry Officials from 13 countries.

 

Making the keynote speech where he underlined that the entire world is passing through a unique period, Minister Selçuk said, "Learning together and learning from each other as well as sharing experiences are a valuable contribution not only for our countries but also for all humanity and for the future."

 

Selçuk shared Turkey's activities in education in the aftermath of the pandemic.

 

Explaining that the Ministry has used three main tools namely TRT EBA Television channel, Education Information Network Internet Platform and printed education materials in the aftermath of the pandemic, Minister Selçuk stated, "We already included distance education and digitalization in education to the 2023 Education Vision which was prepared before the beginning of the pandemic. We reinforced the content and infrastructure of the online education platform, the Education Information Network (EBA) which was founded in 2012 and increased its capacity. This platform provided us the opportunity to take quick steps after the beginning of the pandemic."

 

Minister Selçuk said that his Ministry took actions within the context of "Equality of Opportunity in Education" principle as a part of its effort to maintain a system that would not leave any student behind and noted that Turkey managed to establish 3 television channels for education namely TRT EBA Primary School, TRT EBA Secondary School and TRT EBA High School channels within 10 days after the beginning of the pandemic.

 

Pointing out that broadcasts of these channels include separate special contents for special education students, immigrant students and vocational school students, Selçuk shared data concerning the digital education platform EBA.

 

Stating his counterparts that the EBA is at the top of most visited education websites of the World, Selçuk said that they have founded 13 thousand and 540 EBA support points across Turkey. He pointed out that, "We also used EBA Mobile Support program in order to allow a few students who failed to reach these points to have access to educational services."

 

Selçuk stressed that the Ministry has distributed 500 thousand tablet computers to students who are in need.

 

Noting that majority of students in Turkey began face to face education after Ministry maintained required hygiene conditions, Selçuk said, "As a result of measures we had taken, there was  no increase in the pandemic due to the opening of face to face education."

 

Selçuk said that there might be a serious risk in the future if they fail to fill the learning gap today adding that the Ministry has been monitoring social and emotional skill development of students as much as they monitored their academic skills and they also carried out activities in order to improve these skills. "We believe that we will overcome all kinds of difficulties with education," Selçuk stressed.