School buildings at risk in Istanbul being reinforced, rebuilt: Report

ISTANBUL

Following the deadly earthquakes in early February last year, Istanbul Governor's Office launched an inspection of school buildings across the metropolitan city, with 481 high-risk buildings rebuilt and 799 schools reinforced so far.

The attention turned to school buildings in metropolitan cities following the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes. The Istanbul Governor's Office prepared a report on the state of schools in Istanbul, home to 3.4 million of 20 million students.

According to statistics released by the Education Ministry, there are 7,777 schools in Istanbul. The governor's office, on the other hand, has determined that 1,428 of the schools in Istanbul are at risk.

The governor's report noted that 481 of the risky schools were demolished and rebuilt, while 799 were reinforced and made earthquake-resistant.

After the earthquake, the ministry asked private schools to obtain a durability assessment report and gave them time until the beginning of the 2023-2024 academic year.

The ministry had announced that schools that failed to obtain the report would be closed down.

Zafer Öztürk, the chairman of the Private Schools Association of Türkiye, said that both the ministry and the governor's office asked schools for earthquake resistance reports before the summer.

"Those schools that were not resistant reinforced their buildings. There were even some who could not make these preparations by September and those who could not ask for an extension. Some opened their schools in October. However, all our schools submitted their reports to the ministry," he added.