National Education Minister Özer Denies Allegations as False
Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer recently visited the AK Party Kabadüz district organization in Ordu to continue his election studies. During the event, Özer criticized Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the presidential candidate of the Nation Alliance and Chairman of the CHP party, for his education promises. Kılıçdaroğlu had promised to open village schools to improve education, but Özer pointed out that the government had already opened 3,155 village schools in 2022 and planned to open all village schools in Ordu by the end of May.
Özer also criticized Kılıçdaroğlu’s proposal to reduce high school to three years, saying that it would result in a shortage of 85,000 teachers. He also dismissed Kılıçdaroğlu’s call to make pre-school education compulsory, saying that the 5-year-old schooling rate had already increased to 99.9 percent and that the Ministry of National Education provided free meals in all pre-school education.
Furthermore, Özer expressed his astonishment when a political leader recently shared a video alleging that 3.5 million children in Turkey were out of education. Özer stated that the number of unenrolled students educated in primary, secondary, and high schools, within the scope of compulsory education, was only 94,984. He called the political leader’s statement a “tailed lie.”
Özer’s visit to Ordu was part of his efforts to gain insights into the education system in different parts of Turkey, especially ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. His criticisms of Kılıçdaroğlu’s education promises have shed light on the ongoing debate surrounding education reform in Turkey and how political leaders are addressing these issues.
