Minister Selçuk said the World and Turkey have been going through a different history during the pandemic and this period has also affected education.

 

Noting that the Ministry of National Education is doing everything in its power in order to avoid greater problems in education, Minister Selçuk stressed that they have initiated many projects which are the firsts of their kinds in order to support children, to contribute to parents-children relationship and reduce problems in education during the pandemic.

 

Minister Selçuk stated that the common worry in the world is "education gap among children due to recess in schools because of the corona virus pandemic" and noted in previous years students used to enjoy their summer holidays and played games. Selçuk said students now have to study and repeat their lessons adding that the Education Information Network (EBA) internet site and EBA TV Summer School continue to offer alternatives in order to support social-emotional needs, academic and carrier development of students during the summer.

 

Reminding that the Ministry had prepared the "Buddy" holiday book for primary school students and distributed it to approximately 5 million and 300 thousand students, Selçuk said; "For the first time in its history, the Ministry of National Education had tutored children by telling stories and lessons were offered to students as a part of games and fun facts and allowed students to make connection with the curriculum and their family lives. We also announced "Tabii (Natural)" application on July 9 in order to support secondary school students. This application is a digital platform for secondary school students and includes a mobile application. This application is blending lessons with games."

 

Minister Selçuk pointed out that children's loss in terms of education will be greater if the summer holiday is prolonged and that's the reason why they continue to support children's education during the summer.

 

"We want to offer fun and game based lessons for children. Within this framework, we have prepared "I am ready to learn" study book sets for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade students. Each set includes Turkish, math, social sciences, science and life sciences lessons. They are very enjoyable and dynamic.  Apart from ordinary lesson books, we prepared chapters including interesting fun facts, puzzles, games and lessons from the real life. These are all related to required basic knowledge.  Are children ready for the next academic year? This is our problem. In other words, we keep reevaluating what we must do in order to compensate the lost period as long as delay in face to face education continues. We monitor the world and see what other countries do for education in their countries during the pandemic," said Minister Selçuk.

 

Minister Selçuk stated that "I am ready to learn" set can be used as a reference by students adding that development cannot be prevented.

 

Noting that they have prepared a set of book named "Seed" for first grade students, Minister Selçuk said, "1st grade is the time when students started their education. Face to face education of first grade students was halted due to the pandemic. Due to this reason, we prioritized the education of first grade students during distance education. We prepared a three fascicule set named "Seed" for them. We adapted an approach based on four skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. Teachers and academician worked together in this project. We also include excerpts from selected works of distinguished authors."

 

Minister Selçuk said that children will have the opportunity to learn without getting bored with these two new sets of study books adding that, "We have started a new phase in our projects that we have designed in order to support children's education. Parents and children can also reach digital version of "I am ready to learn" and "Seed" study books on EBA. We plan to publish limited number of books for some disadvantaged students. We will continue to plan new projects until we decide to open schools. We see remedial training as a part of the whole learning process in order words we consider the next academic year as remedial training."