More than 27,000 students return to quake zone

ANKARA

More than 27,000 of the students who were previously transferred to other provinces after the earthquakes have returned to their own schools, Education Minister Mahmut Özer has said.

After the deadly Feb. 6 earthquakes, Özer stated that they took great care to turn education back to normal and thanked the other ministries and officials for their support.

Reminding that all students are returning to schools gradually, Minister Özer said that currently 18.5 million students continue their education.

Özer added that as quake survivors were moved from tents to containers, the ministry started to provide televisions to all units to enable children to study, by watching TRT EBA, a distance education channel broadcasting programs related to the courses in the curriculum.

“In this context, we have installed 16,560 televisions so far,” Özer said.

With the help of the steps taken to support education, the minister said that 27,462 students have returned to the 10 quake-hit provinces as they are able to continue to attend their classes.

The minister said they are hoping that when all schools are fully operational, all students who had to leave will return to the region.

While providing these opportunities to the young population, the minister pointed out that they continue to deliver courses especially for adults, in Public Education Centers.

“In other words, we have mobilized every opportunity of our ministry to support adult citizens as well. In this context, we opened 11,286 courses in a very short time. Approximately 155,405 citizens benefited from these courses. Our aim is to focus on courses that will help our citizens overcome the trauma of the earthquake and produce materials they need with their own hands in whatever environment, whether it is a tent or a container,” Özer added.

Emphasizing that they have opened education units in over 110 hospitals, Minister Özer said that the ministry has provided the opportunity to continue education not only for students getting treatment, but also for the children of health personnel working 24/7 in the hospitals.

In addition, Özer said that they have established classrooms in tents or containers at approximately 2,026 different locations.