Emine Erdoğan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, attended the 'Earthquake Region Şule Yüksel Şenler Education and Vocational Workshops' program held in Istanbul. The program was attended by Emine Erdoğan, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, Provincial Director of National Education Murat Mücahit Yentür, Bahçelievler Mayor Dr. Hakan Bahadır, and many others.
At the program, where the promotional film 'You Are Not Alone' was screened, Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, and Şule Yüksel Şenler Foundation Board of Trustees President and AK Party Deputy Group Chair Leyla Şahin Usta also addressed the participants.
Following the screening of the documentary titled 'Your Story' at the program, a plaque was presented to Meryem Gümüş from the Antakya Nedime Keser Public Education Center on behalf of the participants in the workshops in the earthquake region. The program concluded with a family photo shoot attended by the protocol committee, participants, and course instructors.
'750,000 CLASSROOMS, 18 MILLION STUDENTS, 75,000 SCHOOLS'
Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin said, "I am explaining our President's contributions to education processes with a number, and then I will begin my speech. That number is this: In 2002, our children were studying in 350,000 classrooms in Turkey. Approximately half of these 350,000 classrooms were demolished due to earthquakes, completion of their economic lifespan, or other reasons.
Roughly, we have 200,000 classrooms built before 2002. We have 750,000 classrooms. I, as an educator, an academic, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, express my gratitude to our President for providing this opportunity to our children and for placing the Ministry of National Education and the education budget at the top of the budget every year to provide this opportunity.
There is a reason I start from this part. It is this: at these meetings, we always talk about what is done in formal education age. But on this occasion today, I will share some figures in the context of non-formal education for the first time in such a setting. In addition to the 750,000 classrooms, 18 million students, 75,000 schools I mentioned, I will give another figure. We have one thousand and one Public Education Centers across the country.
He spoke of it as an institution providing education outside the formal education age.
'WE PROVIDED A TOTAL OF 43,780,670 HOURS OF COURSES FOR OUR 6 MILLION PARTICIPANTS'
Minister Tekin said, "Last year, we opened 326,094 courses in these institutions of ours. 6,116,054 participants attended these courses. These figures are in addition to the 18 million. For these 6 million participants, we provided a total of 43,780,670 hours of courses. The figures I am saying are truly enormous figures. We have always mentioned formal education, I am saying this because we haven't mentioned non-formal education. Let me also give the 2026 figure. As of today, as of June 19, we have opened 107,299 courses across Turkey.
3,007,197 participants have joined these courses. These 3 million participants have taken a total of 11,780,250 hours of courses. Therefore, our President's contribution to education is not only to formal education, it has many different dimensions. That's why I want to express my thanks to our President in every setting, as an intellectual, an academic, an educator.
Within the scope of this project, for the production of the products you saw outside while coming in, our participants have taken a total of 23,536 hours of courses for 52 courses, for 52 courses under two headings. I also thank our master instructors and teachers who gave this course in your presence," he said.
'18 MILLION STUDENTS, 6 MILLION PARTICIPANTS'
Yusuf Tekin said, "I say this in every setting. Those who criticize these protocols either do not know how to count or have no knowledge of mathematics. 18 million students, 6 million participants, of course, to organize all this, we need the cooperation of other public institutions, other ministries, civil society organizations, professional organizations. In this sense, I thank all the public institutions, civil society organizations, professional organizations that support us.
I am also grateful to the Şule Yüksel Şenler Foundation. As a graduate of an imam-hatip high school, speaking under the name of a valuable person whose novels we read in my childhood and youth, doing something in her memory is a separate source of honor and pride for me. May her place be in heaven, may God have mercy on her.
To the Yüksel Şenler Foundation and all its administrators, especially its very valuable honorary president, I express that as the Ministry of National Education, our door is wide open for such collaborations, we would be happy to carry out any kind of cooperation together, and I present my respects to all of you," he said.
