National Education Minister Selçuk: If there is a risk, we definitely do not open schools, we follow the Science Board.

Minister of Education Ziya selcukHe answered questions about the measures to be taken in education in pandemic conditions on NTV.

The highlights of Selçuk’s comments are as follows:

• On Monday at 9 o’clock in our schools, the Turkish National Anthem will be sung and bells will ring, and we hope that our children will accompany us from their homes.
• We have gradually determined how this process will work. All content is delivered to all our schools day by day.

‘We gain experience in distance education’

• We have gained experience in distance education since March. There will be a sport every morning, we attach great importance to our children doing those movements. There will be live lessons every day.
• Apart from the live class, there will be communication between teachers and students.
• We will distribute masks to the students, we are preparing for this. We consult them. All protocols are ready in case of incident. We will not measure fever at the entrance of the school, just to cause a build-up.
• We determine which of our teachers will study from school on which days. In some schools there may be many teachers who are chronically ill or over 65, we have already given them flexibility. Some teachers will teach from home some days and some days from school.
• We do not want our teachers to be in school full time. This is my call to all my school administrator friends.
• We don’t want to be in school constantly to comfort our teacher. Some studies can also be done from home. The important thing is to reach out to our children and meet their needs.
• When we looked at access on television, we saw 99 percent engagement. Although small, there was a problem accessing the TV. Some of our teachers charged the television and computers for their own tuition fees, which impressed me greatly.

‘We will bring children who do not have access to the EBA support points’

• There are 1.5 million children without devices. As we know? Who enters EBA, who does what. We determine them all. We are also working on supplying devices. We create EBA support points. In certain regions, there may be a school or training center with 8-10 computers. Part of this may be mobile, by means of vehicles. We will connect children who do not have access to these EBA footholds.
• If our student wants, he can listen to the lesson of his own teacher, watch animations or watch videos.
• We are working to do face-to-face exams. These are unclear at this time, we have some alternatives. Students will be responsible for both television education and school education.
• All of our books have reached the schools. Exceptionally, if some schools have problems, they are addressed this week. From the day education begins, our parents can get it in schools. We will also provide support books.
• When our students come to school, they will be greeted by their teachers. There will be no lessons for 1 week, it will be reserved for sleeping.

‘It has been determined what to do when the virus is detected’

• I know the exact stories of our teachers’ efforts that will go down in history since March. We owe thanks to our teachers.
  When making decisions about the working conditions of our teachers, we consult the authorities and look at the statistics. All the things to do when the virus is detected were determined.

• We hold meetings with private school administrators. The teacher is on call while conducting distance education. At school, get on the bus, eat or not, some expenses are not made as there are no students at school. We decided to reimburse the service and food expenses. Of course, our job is to protect the rights of a parent who expects a discount. There will be some determinations on tax benefits shortly. I think private schools will do what they need. We follow the matter in terms of doing what is necessary.

• If half the students will come, half the capacity will be used on buses. There are also standards brought by the services. There are also standards that we want.

• We will announce which subjects are in the university exam in September.
• If there is risk, we definitely do not open schools, we follow the Scientific Committee.