Stating that they made a comprehensive assessment on the normalization of education and training in Kahramanmaraş at the meeting, Minister Özer said that they, as the Ministry of National Education, have made maximum efforts to normalize education since 6 February.

 

Expressing that they have taken a three-pronged approach to normalize education in ten provinces after the suspension in education until February 20, Özer said that they started education and training in Kilis, Diyarbakır and Şanlıurfa as of March 1, in Osmaniye, Gaziantep and Adana as of March 13. He added that they have started education on a district basis in Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Malatya and Hatay on March 27.Noting that they started education in eight districts in Malatya, seven in Hatay, two in Kahramanmaraş and five in Adıyaman as of March 27, Özer emphasized that they enabled 17 and a half million students to continue face to face education.

 

Özer stated that the governors have the authority to start the education processes in the districts where life is starting to return to normal by making projections based on the soundness of buildings. In this context, Özer announced that it was decided to start education in 156 more schools in five districts of Malatya today and said that education began in all districts of Malatya. Expressing that Iskenderun is also included in this scope, Özer said that, after today's evaluations in Kahramanmaraş, they will focus on efforts to start education in Afşin, Nurhak and Çağlayancerit as of next week. Emphasizing that they aim to accelerate the normalization of life by normalizing education and training in the region, Özer stated that they saw this in the Covid-19 pandemic. Özer said that they are making an effort to continue education in the tents, containers and prefabricated schools they set up in districts where schools are not opened yet, in a way that covers all students as much as possible.

 

Stating that one of the most crucial points are the students who will enter LGS and YKS, Minister Özer stated that these students are the group that feel apprehension the most. He stated that in addition to the facilitating decisions taken for this group, as of February 6, they have quickly activated the support and training courses, which are the most important instruments of the Ministry, so that especially 8th and 12th grade students can quickly attend LGS and YKS preparation courses.

 

Expressing that they are trying to increase both the capacity and the quality of the education they provide, Özer stated that they aim to quickly get over the trauma of this earthquake and meet their teachers for the LGS and YKS exam. Stating that they provide course training support for the preparation of students for LGS and YKS at a total of 3 thousand 205 points, including YKS, Özer stated that this support has benefited from a total of 129 thousand 652 students, 103 thousand of whom will enter LGS, 25 thousand 696 are students who are preparing for the YKS exams.

 

Announcing that they will open very comprehensive education campuses in the region in the near future, Minister Özer said that in Hatay, Kırıkhan, İskenderun and Kahramanmaraş, there are accommodation, training areas, infirmary, cafeteria, such as philosophy schools and mathematics summer schools where approximately 4 thousand teachers and students can stay. He said that such a full-fledged education YKS and YGS education campus will come into play. Reiterating that they are making efforts to provide new facilities that will provide all kinds of support for the preparation of students for LGS and YKS preparation, Özer said that as of this week  they have provide support for students in a ship in İskenderun as a result of the cooperation with  the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. Özer underlined that the Ministry of National Education has taken steps under the "continuing education everywhere and under all conditions" principle, without waiting for the conditions to mature, and will manage processes much faster from now on.

 

Pointing out that as improvements are made in the region, the results begin to be experienced, Minister Özer said that there were students who went to other provinces from 10 provinces in the first days of the earthquake, but with the normalization of education with the opening of schools, student returns started with 10 earthquake zones. He said that as of today, 22 thousand 145 students, who had previously been transferred to 71 provinces, have transferred back to their hometowns. Özer stated that the sooner they can improve the educational conditions in the region, the faster the return of families to the region will be.

 

Emphasizing that the school does not consist of only four walls, there are many sectors that support the school, Özer noted that when the schools are opened, all economic sectors are also mobilized rapidly and thus processes have the opportunity to improve. Underlining that, as the Ministry, they aim to not leave any district that has not started education until the end of April, by collaborating with the governors, Özer stated that they have already provided all kinds of support for children to continue their education in tents and containers.

 

Noting that citizens are now switching to containers, Özer said that one of the most important initiatives taken by the Ministry is the installation of televisions in containers. Minister Özer, who said that as the Ministry of National Education, they installed televisions in every container, said that they aimed to make the container happy as a family environment, to make the children repeat the relevant lessons at TRT EBA when they return to the container after school, and to maintain the supportive mechanisms related to learning losses in the home environment. Announcing that they have installed televisions in 16 thousand 560 containers, Minister Özer stated that this number will increase day by day with the building of new containers.

 

Noting that public education courses continue to support the psychological strength of adult citizens in the region, Özer said that 130 thousand 96 citizens attended the 9 thousand 435 courses opened so far. Özer stated that they aim to provide a socialization environment for citizens to gain every competence they want with the active support of master trainers.

 

Özer thanked the governors, provincial and district directors of national education for successfully carrying out the processes together with the citizens day and night in the post-earthquake period in Kahramanmaraş, and the biggest thank you is to the cooking, bread production, material sorting and organization of tents that have been on the field since 6 February. He underlined that there are teachers who work devotedly in every field that concerns citizens, such as Expressing that the teachers are the heroes of this process, Özer said that nearly 40 thousand volunteer teachers are actively working in the field and they are happy to handle the problems of citizens and manage the processes. Stating that they are grateful to the teachers as the Ministry, Özer expressed that he is proud of the teachers and administrative staff. Emphasizing that all the possibilities of the state are in the field under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister Özer said that they will overcome these processes quickly, by joining hands with the state and the nation.

 

The Governor of Kahramanmaraş Ömer Faruk Coşkun, the Governor of Samsun Zülkif Dağlı, the Director General for Basic Education Tuncay Morkoç, the Director General for Private Education Institutions Mustafa Gelen, the Director General for the Personnel Fehmi Rasim Çelik, the Director General for the Higher Education and Foreign Education Murat Süt, Kahramanmaraş Provincial Director of National Education Yusuf Kahraman and district directors of national education attended the coordination meeting.