The Ministry of National Education is supporting students with distance education on the internet and television channels as well as activating the production capabilities of vocational high schools for the fight against the epidemic as a part of measures taken against the coronavirus.

 

Within this framework, vocational schools are undertaking mass production of different kinds of products varying from cleaning products and disinfectants to masks, from disposal aprons and allovers to face shields.
 
Deputy Minister Mahmut Özer who managed and coordinated this production process evaluated the recent situation.
 
Noting that the administration has prioritized to respond to the mask needs of the people, Özer stated that approximately 50 vocational and technical high schools are involved in the production process.

 

"Every day, a new school is joining the production process. Moreover, public education centers and advanced technical schools for girls have started to produce masks. Until now, we have produced 8 million masks and delivered them to the places they are needed under the coordination of offices of the provincial governors. 2.5 million of these masks were distributed in İstanbul. We are continuing production with devotion.
 
Surgical mask production capacity rose to 10 million
Underlining the importance of automation in the increase of mask production capacity, Özer said, "For this purpose, we focused on mask machine production in our R&D center in İstanbul. Our friends achieved success and the first "Automatic Three Layer Ultrasonic Surgical Mask Machine" was produced in İstanbul. We have produced 2 more of these machines. We are in the final stage of producing the same machines in Bursa and Konya. In addition, our monthly mask production capacity in İstanbul rose to 5 million and to 10 million in all over the country."
 
Cleaning supply production capacity increased
Özer stressed that cleaning supply production capacity of chemical technology departments of vocational schools have also increased.
 
Stating that their priority was to increase the production capacity to a level that they could respond to all cleaning supply needs of approximately 54 thousand schools in 81 cities of the country, Özer said the Ministry has achieved this goal.
 
"Right now, we passed beyond responding to the cleaning supplies needs of our schools and we could also meet demands coming from the public. Till now, we have produced 5 million liters of hypochlorite disinfectants, 120 thousand liters of hand disinfectants and 3 thousand liters of cologne and delivered them to the places where they are needed," Özer said.

 

1 million face shields are produced in a month
Noting that one of the most important needs of the people who have close contacts with others especially the health workers is face shields, Özer said, "Primarily, we started manufacturing face shields with 3D printers in 150 Science and Arts Centers (BİLSEM) and vocational and technical Anatolian high schools. Later, we produced mold and model in vocational schools in order to make mass production. Until now, we have produced and distributed 750 thousand face shields. We delivered free face shields to health workers under the coordination of the Ministry of Health. As a part of the Police Week, we started to deliver free 250 thousand face shields to police officers. We finally reached a capacity of 1 million face shield production capacity every month."
 
Stressing that protecting health workers from coronavirus is very important during this process, Özer stated that another important need of health workers is disposable aprons.

 

Özer said that the Ministry is also focusing on this subject and went on to say that, "We are making large amounts of production for various different countries. Recently, we made an important investment in Mersin and only in Mersin, we produce 500 thousand disposable aprons every month. Disposable aprons are produced according to the requirements of the Ministry of Health. At the moment, our capacity to produce disposable aprons per month rose to 1 million."
 
Ventilators produced in İstanbul and Hatay
While the Ministry continues to increase production capacity for various items, it also focuses on R&D activities for three main products, Özer stated, "We have focused on three main products namely surgical mask machines, ventilators and N95 standard mask machines. We managed to produce surgical/medical mask machines in İstanbul. We have produced ventilators in Hatay and İstanbul. We applied for a license for ventilator production. After completing necessary formalities, we will start mass production depending on demand. Our goal is to gain know-how about production rather than making production. We achieved this. Now, we want to share our knowledge and experience with public offices and agencies and the private sector for free. In other words, we do not want competition, what we want is to share our experience and knowledge for increasing the production capacity of our country."
 
Stating that N95 standard mask machines is the third product R&D centers focused on, Özer said, "We have reached the final stage. With the will of Allah, we will produce this machine and share the good news with our people."
 
Vocational high schools made a contribution to relieve the impact of the first shock
Noting the importance of fast production of necessary products are important in relieving the impact of first shock and preventing panic atmosphere in the fight against epidemics like coronavirus, Özer added: "During this process, vocational high schools, all of our administrators, teachers and students assumed responsibility. They managed to gradually produce all necessary main products and delivered them to the places where they are needed under the coordination of governors' offices. Consequently, they both made humble contributions to the relieving the impact of first shock and showed that they are a true friend of people who are in need. As the Ministry we respond to the human resource demand of the business market by reinforcing vocational education and make serious contribution in addition to showing that these schools have a dynamic structure that could act fast and work in the field during times of trouble.

 

This success is the result of working together under coordination. I would like to express my gratitude to all departments of our ministry especially the Directorate General of Vocational and Technical Education, provincial directorates and directors in 81 provinces of Turkey, all schools, principals, teachers and students who participated in this process."