Visiting Hatay Disaster Coordination Center, Minister Tekin met with Governor Mustafa Masatlı in a closed-door meeting as part of his programs in Hatay hit by the February 6 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş.

 

Attending the Opening Ceremony of the 2023-2024 School Year held at Antakya TOKİ Ömer Faruk Adaş Primary School, Minister Tekin congratulated the new school year.

 

Stating that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could not attend the program due to the G20 Leaders' Summit in India, Tekin conveyed President Erdoğan's greetings to the education community in Hatay.

 

Stating that they will fulfill their duty and heal the wounds in Hatay as soon as possible, Tekin noted that according to their calculations, nearly 2 thousand 500 classrooms in Hatay have become unusable due to the earthquake as they were destroyed or severely damaged.

 

Saying that the President's instruction is to recover these deficiencies as soon as possible, Tekin mentions that they have planned at least 1 thousand 700 of 2 thousand 500. Minister stated that these deficiencies will be corrected in the next school year. Underlining the sensitivity of the President in this regard, the Minister said that they informed President Erdoğan regarding the works they have done in the earthquake zone.  

 

Minister Tekin said that since the beginning of the summer, they have made regulations both on primary and secondary legislation which are widely discussed in public opinion, come to the fore and are appreciated to a great extent.

 

Speaking about the Regulation on the Amendment of the Regulation on the Ministry of National Education Secondary Education Institutions Minister Tekin stated that the main philosophy of that Regulation is to enable students to learn Turkish based on 4 skills which is to create a student profile who can speak and use Turkish and can express him/herself in Turkish. Saying that they put Turkish education on the agenda to a great extent this year, Minister Tekin stressed that the most of the changes they made were discussing issues such as the removal of test exams.

 

Stating that they made important changes in the curriculum and legislation in order to raise students' awareness of social responsibility, the Minister warned that they may face the risk of lack of awareness of social solidarity in the next disasters if they do not instill the idea and perception of social responsibility in children. The Minister stressed that as the Ministry they have defined this as one of the important activity areas for the next year. Tekin said that they have started a framework program to use school gardens effectively, in order to keep traditions and customs alive and to help children fight against all kinds of addictions, especially digital addiction and obesity.

 

Minister Tekin wished that the 2023-2024 school year would be a year in which the awareness of social mobilization was acted upon in the field of education.

 

After the speeches, Minister of National Education Tekin rang the first bell of the new school year with the students. Tekin then met with teachers and students.