Millions back to school as academic year starts

ISTANBUL

National Education Minister Nabi Avcı makes a drawing of himself on Sept. 9. DHA photo

The new academic term for secondary schools commences with about 17 million students and 800,000 teachers attending classes.

After a three-month summer break, the academic year starts Sept. 15 and will end on June 13, 2014. In order for pre-schoolers and first graders to become better orientated with the ins and outs of school, their start date was one week ago, on Sept. 9, 2013. 

The first semester of the academic year will end on Jan. 24, 2014. The second semester will commence on Feb. 10, 2014, after a break between Jan. 27 and Feb. 7. 

On the matter of the new academic year, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş said, “I’m asking Istanbul residents to opt for public transport for the first two days and, as much as they can, refrain from driving their individual vehicles, so that it would be possible for all to experience a very comfortable start to the new academic year.” 

Topbaş also said he expected Istanbul residents to demonstrate the sensitivity that they had shown in previous years in the first week of the academic year, adding, “My particular request from Istanbul residents is that they show sensitivity so that no stress, particularly in the traffic congestion, experienced in the first days of school in all major cities around the world, is experienced in Istanbul. Should all follow through in doing this, we can all then have a stress-free urban life in the first days of the first week [of school].” 

Topbaş said 2,700,000 students in Istanbul, as well as 104,000 teachers and administrative staff, will be commuting to and from work in Istanbul as of the start of the 2013-2014 academic year.