Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer pointed out that face-to-face education which was suspended for approximately 1.5 years due to the Covid-19 pandemic was opened on September 6, 2021 and continued with determination since then.

 

"When I was named as the Minister of National Education, I specifically noted that we will not wait for the end of the pandemic to open face-to-face education. I stressed that schools must open first and closed last and keeping schools open is a matter of national security," noted Özer.

 

He said that there are 18 million students and 1 million and 200 thousand teachers in the education system and they have achieved important gains in the last 19 years. 

 

Minister Özer reminded that the schooling rate in the country also increased in the last 19 years adding that, "In 2000s, only 44 students out of 100 students were enrolled in high schools. Today, this rate reached 90. Schooling rate among five year old children increased from 14 percent to 90 percent. Female students have almost the same schooling rate with male students. I would like to thank President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for allocating the largest share of the budget to education."

 

Özer noted that an education system is as strong as its teachers and personal and professional improvement training programs are among the priorities of his Ministry.

 

Teaching Profession Law No. 7374 came into force on February 14, 2022 and for the first time, a career system was founded for teachers. Regulation concerning the law has reached the final stage. The Ministry has consulted with the NGOs and all education stakeholders. It is planned to submit the regulation draft for presidential approval.

 

Minister Özer pointed out that the Ministry was planning professional improvement training programs for teachers but this authority is delegated to provincial directorates of national education now.

 

"Teachers will decide about their training programs in cooperation with provincial directorates and the Ministry will allocate necessary funds. We have increased the budget allocated for personal and professional training programs for teachers by 35 times," Özer said.

 

Minister Özer stressed that his Ministry has been making the largest investment to İstanbul adding that, "Budget allocated to schools in İstanbul is 8.9 billion liras. In addition to this budget, we will also inaugurate 1000 kindergartens in the city until the end of 2022. Moreover, 50 percent of the newly appointed teachers are assigned in İstanbul."