Training on Combating Violence against Women for Teachers

Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer stated that they have made the trainings they carry out in this direction much more systematic within the scope of the 2022 Action Plan to Combat Violence Against Women, “One of the trainings we have prepared for our teachers during the mid-term break will be awareness trainings in combating violence against women.” said.

Minister Özer made evaluations regarding the second midterm holiday period and the education agenda, which will be held on April 2021-2022 of the 11-15 academic year. Expressing that they are happy to be able to successfully continue the 2021-month process of the 2022-7 academic year in 81 provinces, all districts and classroom levels, Özer thanked the teachers and students for their efforts in this process. Stating that the students showed great sacrifice in obeying all the rules in schools as well as listening to the lessons with masks, Özer said, “I congratulate all our students. We ask our students to rest, focus on sports activities and read at least one book during the one-week break.” said.

On the question about the professional development training of teachers during the break, Özer reminded that they established the Teacher Information Network (ÖBA) in 2022 to enrich the education options of teachers in distance education and that they started using this digital platform for the first time during the two-week semester break between January 24th and February 4th. Özer stated that teachers received more than 414 thousand certificates in the professional development trainings carried out through IPA during this period, and 3,1 trainings per teacher were completed in IPA.

Expressing that they are very pleased with the high participation in these optional trainings and the fact that the highest demand is for trainings on environment and climate change, Özer said that 175 teachers participated in the training seminars where different training options were offered, from climate change to waste management, from event-based course design to first aid training. He said that 309 thousand 142 teachers completed at least one training.

Noting that 908 thousand 490 certificates were given to the participating teachers in the first three months of this year, Özer said, “While 2021 hours of training per teacher fell in the first three months of 19, this number increased to 2022 hours in the first three months of 23. In other words, when we offer education opportunities to our teachers from different platforms, we see that our teachers show great interest in getting these trainings.” made its assessment.

“The training on combating violence will be much more systematic”

Minister Özer stated that they designed 14 different training programs for the midterm holiday, in a way to highlight the demands from the teachers, and said, “Our teachers will rest during the break, they can go to any point in Turkey if they want. they will have to complete one.” shared his knowledge. Reminding that the 14 Action Plan for Combating Violence Against Women was prepared, Özer reminded that as the Ministry, they carried out many activities in this direction before this action plan.

Stating that they provided awareness trainings to counselors and other teachers on combating violence against women, Özer continued: “Currently, within the framework of the 2022 Action Plan for Combating Violence Against Women, we have made our trainings in this direction much more systematic. One of the 11 trainings we have prepared for our teachers during the mid-term break, which will be held on April 15-14, will be awareness training on combating violence against women. Our teachers will definitely be trained not only for violence against women, but also for peer bullying and other forms of violence. We want to build a school climate where there is zero tolerance for violence and where violence is not applied to any person, not just women, and our children, teachers and administrators spend their time in this school climate.”

“Zero tolerance to all kinds of violence and peer bullying”

Pointing out that most of the life is spent in school, from kindergarten to higher education and participation in the workforce, Özer said, “We need to show zero tolerance not only to violence against women, but also to violence of the student against the teacher, the teacher against the student, the teacher against the teacher, and peer bullying." said. Underlining that there should be an environment free from violence, where everyone feels safe, where personal development and benefiting from educational opportunities are at the center, in the school, which should set an example due to its location, Özer said: when he is concerned about violence, he will be negatively affected. In this case, the student will gradually break away from the school environment without learning, leave the school, in other words, it will cause other social problems. In other words, if we can provide a very healthy environment in the school environment, we will have a very valuable opportunity for social transformation. Because the number of students and teachers in our country corresponds to a very large proportion of the society. We are talking about an education system with 20 million students and 1 million 200 thousand teachers. Therefore, the more we can spread good examples in schools, this will gradually affect the society. If we can strengthen an environment where there is zero tolerance for violence at school, where nothing is overlooked or covered up, and where everyone feels good, if we can move it to a better point every day, this will not only make our society a very healthy society, but also make students very happy in the school environment. It will increase their learning in a healthier way and the quality of their learning. Therefore, as the Ministry, we will be one of the biggest supporters of this process with all our means.

In the Kovid-19 process, the example and acumen that schools will be the safest, the first and last places to be opened and closed ensured the normalization of the society, and it had a very important lighthouse effect in keeping other institutions open comfortably. Therefore, I think that the more you can strengthen our schools in every aspect, the more our country will gain from it.”

Period of positive discrimination for female managers

Ozer, also citing the data on the proportion of female teachers appointed to the Ministry of National Education between 2002-2022, said: “While 2002 percent of 500 thousand teachers were female teachers in 40, 1 percent of our 200 million 60 thousand teachers are currently female teachers. At the same time, we will make positive discrimination in order to see our women as administrators as much as possible in all stages of education, from school administrators in our provincial organization, from our provincial and district national education directorate to the Ministry. I believe this will play a critical role in ensuring that educational environments continue as a much healthier process.”