Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer, who went to Hatay to make examinations, attended the meeting held at the Disaster Coordination Center with Hulusi Akar, the Minister of National Defense.
At the meeting held in Hatay Disaster Coordination Center under the chairmanship of Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer and Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar, educational activities in the city and studies carried out in other fields were discussed.
Minister Özer, in his speech here, stated that they have made a comprehensive study to restart education in the earthquake zone; He noted that as of today, students in 8 districts in Malatya, 5 in Adıyaman, 7 in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay have met with school. Stating that they received feedback that teachers and students were happy for this reason, Özer said:
“We have brought about 201 students together with education in the districts we have mentioned. As of February 6, we have brought 18,5 million students together with education. Instead of making a statement as the Ministry of National Education from now on, our governors will now put education and training into practice in the districts where the conditions in their provinces have matured."
Stating that he wanted to share an important announcement from Hatay, Özer said, “As you know, the 2022-2023 academic year ends as of June 16. We will not make any extensions. In other words, despite these delays, we will end education on June 16, but we will continue to support our students with reinforcing education programs related to compensation for losses that we will announce later in the summer.” said.
Özer stated that they provided all kinds of support for children to meet with education in the tents and containers they set up in the districts that were not opened to education while the process was going on. Expressing that 2 tent and container schools serve in this context, Özer said that the most important share here is the Mehmetçik Schools, which were implemented together with the Ministry of National Defense, and said:
“Mehmetçik Schools was one of the first moves in our children's meeting with education and our students happily took their place -preschool, primary school, secondary school, high school- in the LGS exam preparation tents and YKS exam preparation tents with our Ministry of National Defense children."
Most of the 45 thousand teacher appointments will be evaluated to restore the earthquake zone.
Özer thanked the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, AFAD Presidency for their support in the process, and said, “Last week, our President gave the good news of the highest teacher appointment in recent years regarding the normalization of education here. 45 thousand teachers… We started the process.” he said. Stating that most of the appointments will be made to the provinces where the earthquake occurred in order to bring the region back to its feet, Özer said, “Again, the Ministry of National Education will recruit approximately 5 thousand contracted personnel for the first time. 4 office staff, 250 engineers, 100 nurses, 500 dietitians and 125 lawyers. The related process has started. Hopefully, this process will be finalized in April.” used the phrases. Minister Özer noted that the contracted personnel cadres will also be evaluated to meet the needs of the provinces of the region.
Minister Özer stated that an education investment budget of approximately 40 billion liras was started to be transferred to the region rapidly by prioritizing the needs, and continued his words as follows:
“The needs of schools, teachers' houses, practice hotels, all related outbuildings, all buildings that provide logistic support here will be met quickly. In addition to the 40 billion investment, our investment budget for the construction of 500 fixed, steel-constructed prefabricated schools in the region was approved by our Presidency Strategy Budget Department. Hopefully, we will do our best to bring 500 prefabricated schools to the region within 4 months.”
Reminding that the Ministry provided all kinds of convenience for the transfer of students in the earthquake zone to other provinces, and that until now, approximately 254 thousand students continue their education in 71 provinces, Minister Mahmut Özer said, “As the Ministry, we have reprinted all the books and auxiliary resources of these students. We provided all kinds of support to meet all stationery needs.” he said.
Stating that for the first time, students who transferred to the region started to return to the region, which is also pleasing, Özer said, “As of today, 11 students started to return to the region after seeing the normalization of life in the region, despite the fact that they had their transfers taken to other provinces before, and after seeing the schools opened. In other words, if we normalize education in a healthy and safe way by taking all kinds of precautions in all our provinces, I believe that we will make the greatest contribution to the normalization of the region. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of our Ministers, especially to our President, and to all our governors, district governors, officials and deputies for their support in this process.” said.
Expressing his special thanks to the teachers and the Ministry staff, who voluntarily went to the field without any instruction from the first day of the earthquake and worked devotedly to heal the wounds of the citizens, Minister Özer said, “I am really proud of all the teachers of our Ministry. We are proud of our devoted administrative staff.” used your expressions.
Stating that on the occasion of the meeting, he wished to get well soon to Turkey, and wished God's mercy to those who lost their lives in the earthquake disaster and a speedy recovery to the injured, Özer said that he believed that the problems would be overcome quickly by joining hands with the state and nation.
Akar: We will continue to work shoulder to shoulder with our state and nation until all wounds are healed.
Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar said in a statement, “Everyone rushed to the side of the nation and the citizens. In this way, we have made great efforts to heal the wounds of the disaster and we continue to do so.” he said.
Stating that it is necessary to open a separate chapter about Mehmetçik Schools, Akar stated that education in these schools continues at the level of preparation for kindergarten, secondary education and university.
Wishing success to the students who started their education today and easiness to the teachers, Akar said:
“Turkey is a really big and powerful country, let's know that. The most important factor that ensures this is the culture, values and loyalty and support of our noble nation to its state. Our state is here, standing tall and none of our citizens are alone. We will continue to work shoulder to shoulder with our state and nation until all problems are resolved and wounds healed.”
In addition to Minister Özer and Minister Akar, Deputy Minister of Interior İsmail Çataklı, Chief of General Staff General Yaşar Güler and Hatay Deputy Governor Oğuzhan Bingöl also attended the coordination meeting.
After the meeting at the Disaster Coordination Center, Minister Özer visited the public education courses established in the container city of Hatay Büyükdalyan. Özer said, “6 thousand 697 trainees attended our 91 thousand 609 courses that we opened to support our citizens in the disaster area with social and cultural activities.” said.