Demirören Media High School opened by education minister

ISTANBUL

Demirören Media High School, a vocational school that will train young journalists who will be well-equipped with skills to work in the media sector, has been inaugurated in Istanbul with a ceremony attended by Turkish Education Minister Mahmut Özer.

“I believe that this high school will be a school where the most successful students in the country will be studying,” Özer said in his opening speech at the high school building, located inside the complex of Demirören Media Holding in the Bağcılar district.

Thanking the Demirören family for their efforts to establish the school, the minister said, “I wished to be a student here.”

Demirören Media Holding and the Education Ministry signed a protocol on Oct. 7, 2021, to establish the high school.

“In a very short time, we made the school ready for education,” Yıldırım Demirören, the board chairman of Demirören Holding, said in his speech.

Highlighting the importance of media, Demirören said, “This school, opened at the heart of the media sector, will form the future of a principled and fair media.”

“We are looking forward to hosting our students,” he said. “Because, we know that when they graduate from this school that will present education with world standards, they will be trained by professionals in our group.”

Demirören Media Holding is Turkey’s biggest media group, owning well-known dailies Hürriyet, Hürriyet Daily News, Milliyet, Posta and Fanatik, and national boadcasters, CNN Türk and Kanal D, a news agency, DHA, and a pay-TV platform, D-Smart.

The inauguration day of Demirören Media High School became host to another protocol signing ceremony between Demirören Holding and the ministry.

“Today is a historical day,” Özer said. “We are not only opening Turkey’s first and only high school on media, but we also open the first center on vocational education on media.”

“I want to give good news. Until today, some 54 research and development centers have been formed inside the vocational schools. Today, the 55th is established here,” the minister highlighted.

“The vocational schools [in Turkey] produce and supply the need of human resources,” he added.

According to Demirören, the name of Turkey’s 55th vocational center is “Demirören Media Digital Vocational Training Center.”

“We are opening the doors of the digital world to our youth and adults,” Demirören said and added: “We will employ those graduating from the certified programs and fulfilling the criteria to work at Demirören Media Holding.”

The syllabus of the program has been formed with the group’s professionals and the ministry officials.

After the opening speeches, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in front of the school entrance, with the attendance of Özer, Demirören and Meltem Demirören Oktay, the vice-chair of the management board of Demirören Holding.

Touring the school building, the minister played table tennis and chess with some students from a secondary school nearby who visited to see Demirören Media High School.

30 students to enter school this year

Some 30 students will be accepted to the Demirören Media High School in its first year.

The school will start accepting its first students after the high school qualification exam on June 5.

Located inside the Demirören Media Center in Istanbul’s Bağcılar district, the school will impart education via two departments, “Journalism” and “Radio-TV,” with the start of the new education season in September

The students will be trained with a full syllabus from print media to digital media, from broadcasting to podcasting and from social media to YouTube platform.

Students will study for five years, including a preparatory year for English training, in classes with a maximum capacity of 15 pupils.

Those living outside Istanbul but opting to study in Demirören Media High School will be hosted in dormitories, where all food and transportation expenses will be covered by the school administration.