Japanese minister ‘envies’ Turkish education system, Ankara claims

ANKARA

AA Photo

Weeks after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed that Obamacare was inspired by Turkey, the country’s Education Ministry has claimed that a Japanese minister looked at Ankara’s education system with “envy” and used it as a model.

“Japanese minister looked at the ‘4+4+4’ education system with envy,” the headline of the national Education Ministry statement said on April 30, referring to Turkey’s 12-year elementary education model.

According to the Turkish ministry, Japanese minister Hakubun Shimomura told his Turkish counterpart Nabi Avcı during his visit that he wants his own country to adopt the same model. 

“Turkey’s 12-year mandatory education is a high-level approach among the 200 countries in the world. As Japan, we will use it as model,” the statement quoted Shimomura as saying.

Japan is one of the top-performing OECD countries in reading literacy, math and science with the average student scoring 540. This score is higher than the OECD average of 497, making Japan one of the strongest OECD countries in students’ skills.

The average student in Turkey scored 462 in reading literacy, maths and sciences, lower than the OECD average. 

On March 18, Erdoğan claimed that he had advised President Barack Obama to undertake healthcare reforms in the U.S. following a request for advice by American tourists in Turkey, but his U.S. counterpart “was only able to solve the issue partly” due to “a negative reflex.”