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Cengiz Mete, General Director of MEB Lifelong Learning, made statements about the regulation that makes transitions to open high schools difficult and the circular containing the procedures and principles regarding the circumstances in which transition can be made.
Stating that the Ministry has made changes to the Secondary Education Institutions Regulation in order to strengthen schools and teachers, Mete said that school administrators and teachers see this as a problem area; He emphasized that they have made important arrangements regarding passing grades, attendance and absence, transfers and transitions. Mete said that they made the support and training courses functional according to the needs with the change in the directive.
THE PURPOSE IS TO PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED SPECIAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES
Cengiz Mete stated that they saw that the transition to open high schools accelerated, especially during the epidemic period, and that an attempt was made to create a perception that open high schools were an alternative to formal education by diverting them from their purpose.
Stating that open high schools are schools where those who are excluded from formal education for various and compulsory reasons or who have lost their right to formal education continue with distance education, Mete noted that these schools cannot be expected to fulfill versatile functions such as peer learning and student-teacher interaction.
For this reason, Mete emphasized that they reorganized the transitions to open education high schools and continued as follows: "By binding the transitions to open education to certain conditions, we tried to prevent the obstacles to the versatile development of our students as a result of their leaving formal education, possible grievances and educational losses they may experience in the future.
In addition, we also extend to our parents who, taking advantage of the situations of necessity and difficult conditions during the global pandemic process and the disaster of the century in our country, the February 6 earthquake, carry out private education studies without permission and provide unfair gain by providing unregistered income, claiming to educate our students better academically for different purposes. We aimed to prevent the activities of people or structures that cause economic burden. "With the new regulations, we have taken and continue to take measures against those who claim to prepare students and their parents for higher education by guiding them to open education, but who carry out studies far from pedagogical principles in environments that do not comply with the standards of educational institutions and even have security problems in some of them."
Mete pointed out that directing students to open education without any reasonable justification causes the devaluation of formal education, inequality of opportunity in education, waste of education investments and public resources such as course materials, and disruption of teacher employment plans. Cengiz Mete said, "Therefore, as the Ministry, we had to take new measures and position schools as the center of education. We implemented the new regulations regarding the transition to open education for the reasons we have listed."
STUDENTS IN THE EARTHQUAKE AREA WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO TRANSFER TO OPEN HIGH SCHOOL
Reminding that transitions to open education high schools are limited at all grade levels of formal secondary education institutions, except for excuse-based exceptions in the Secondary Education Institutions Regulation, Cengiz Mete noted the following regarding what the exceptional situations in transitions to open high schools will be and which students' excuses will be accepted: "With the limitation, national athlete Children of martyrs and veterans, those receiving education at home or in hospitals, disabled and special education students, detainees and convicts, students with special conditions within the scope of relevant laws, and students who have lost their right to study in formal secondary education institutions will be able to transfer to open education with the signature of our Minister. It was conveyed to our schools in detail in a circular published.
On the other hand, explanations about those who will be evaluated within the scope of those whose excuses are deemed appropriate by the Ministry in the regulation, due to the essential conditions in the transition to open education, are also included in our circular. Accordingly, those who repeat a grade, those who do not have the same type of school to attend due to a change of residence, those who graduated from basic education institutions but are not registered in any formal secondary education institution, those who have various excuses due to being abroad and those who receive memorization training that requires a long period of time, and those who do not have the same type of school to attend due to a change of residence, those who have graduated from basic education institutions and are not registered in any formal secondary education institution, those who have received memorization training that requires a long period of time, and those who are individual or national athletes. Athletes who have participated in competitions with an active license in team sports for at least three years, those who are registered in Turkey's Olympic preparation centers and athlete training centers, those who reside in temporary accommodation centers in some provinces and districts in the earthquake zone due to difficult conditions and those who receive education services through transportation, must request and document their situation. If so, they can apply to provincial or district student placement and transfer commissions.
General Manager Cengiz Mete said, "An application must be made to the provincial or district student placement and transfer commissions between 15 September and 16 October 2023, provided that the necessary conditions for transition to open high schools are documented."