Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer attended the Sultandere Village Life Center and Gastronomy Workshop Opening and Family Education Certificate Distribution Ceremony within the scope of his Eskişehir visit. Stating that education investments in Eskişehir are at a very good point at all levels from pre-school to higher education, Minister Özer emphasized that as the Ministry, they increased the investment budget from 459 million liras to 1 billion 219 million liras for Eskişehir. Özer wished these investments to be beneficial for children, teachers and parents.

 

Pointing out that the last two decades have corresponded to a period in which education was used most efficiently to increase the quality of Türkiye's human capital and human resources, Özer said that while the developed countries which Türkiye compete today, increased the schooling rates to 95 percent after the Second World War, the schooling rate of the age 5 year old age group was 11 percent, and the schooling rate in secondary education was around 44 percent in the country in 2000s.

 

Stating that the last twenty years corresponds to a period when all the shortcomings of the first century of the Republic were eliminated, Özer stated that huge investments were made throughout the country. Reminding that the number of classrooms in the education system increased from 300 thousand to 900 thousand in nineteen years, and the number of teachers increased from 500 thousand to 1.2 million in twenty years, Özer emphasized that they have put into effect crucial social policies, corresponding to 525 billion liras in 2022, enable the disadvantaged people to access education.

 

Stating that two gains were achieved as the inclusion of the disadvantaged socioeconomic level and the girls in education through social policies, Özer emphasized that they were in a period in which everyone has access to education without discrimination for the first time in the first century of the Republic.

 

Expressing that at the same time, antidemocratic practices in education such as the headscarf ban and the coefficient regulation were removed, Özer said that for the first time, the children were given the opportunity to learn about their religion, the Qur'an and the life of the Prophet.

 

Sharing that the schooling rate of the 5 year old age group has increased to 99 percent, to 99.63 percent in primary education, to 99.44 percent in secondary school, and to 95 percent in secondary education, Özer stated that they are trying to increase the schooling rate in secondary education to 99 percent by the end of March. On this occasion, Özer thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for allocating the largest share of the budget to education and for his determined stance in removing anti-democratic practices.

 

Expressing that he is very happy to achieve and exceed the targets of 2022, Minister Özer underlined that the village life centers were one of the most meaningful ones among the projects initiated in 2022.

 

Explaining that people are slowly returning to villages, especially after the Covid-19 epidemic, Özer reminded that agriculture and animal husbandry have turned into a critical area due to the problems experienced in the food supply chain. Taking these trends into consideration, he said they have started to work to put the idle village schools into the service. Minister Özer stated that for the first time adults, grandchildren and children come together under the same education roof. Özer stated that they have put 2 thousand 200 village life centers into service in the last 4 months and they have been inaugurated in Külliye with the presence of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

 

Minister Özer gave the good news that they will put all schools in Türkiye, whose number of households is below 10, but whose village school is closed, to the service of our citizens within three months.