1,736 classrooms closed across Turkey due to COVID-19, says union

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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The Education and Science Laborers Union (Eğitim-Sen) has released a statement and shared the numbers of COVID-19 cases and closed classrooms across the country between September 20-24.

According to the union's written statement, 522 teachers, 5,305 students and 15 school personnel were either close contacts or COVID-positive in Turkey. The number of classrooms that were closed due to COVID-19 cases has been announced as 1,736 by the union.

Having suspended in-class education for 1.5 years due to the pandemic, Turkey has been giving education at schools since September 6, 2021. In its statement within this context, the union has criticized the Ministry of National Education for failing to make preparations for in-class education during this period, blaming this failure on a systemic crisis.

"As a result of this systemic crisis, the minister was changed right before the new school year and several bureaucrats and education executives were changed," the union has said, adding that "while approaching the resumption of full-time in-class education on the level of mobilization was a basic need, the entire summer was spent with changes of position at the Ministry."

The Eğitim-Sen has also criticized the "very low budget" allocated to education by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, noting that as a result of this lack of funding, no additional staff can be appointed or no physical renovation can be undertaken at schools.

Emphasizing that "the laborers of education, students and parents will be unable to tolerate the deep losses to be caused by a new closure in every dimension," the union has noted that "the number of cases at schools must be minimized and the closure of classes must be prevented."

The Eğitim-Sen has stressed that "full-time in-class education in a healthy and safe environment is every child's fundamental right."

Concluding the statement, the union has also listed the measures to be urgently implemented at schools so that in-class education can continue in Turkey. Increasing the number of classrooms, appointing staffed teachers instead of contract teachers and reducing the duration of classes have been some of the recommendations offered by the union. (KÖ/SD)