Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk said during his speech at the TRT EBA Channels New Term Promotion Meeting that he felt like as if he was staring his first lesson at school.
Stating that he felt very excited when he was watching TRT EBA documentary and students, Selçuk said, "We have done something that was not done before. It is not only about opening three television channels. This is achieved only in Turkey. We have achieved this in cooperation and solidarity. I am proud to share Turkey's distance education experience with the ministers of education of the world."
Minister Selçuk stressed that there are only a few places where students have no access to television in Turkey adding that the Ministry has worked hard and managed to take important steps in providing access to students who do not have television at home.
Selçuk said that every child in the country has the opportunity to follow lessons on TRT EBA channels which includes any lesson content a student needs.
Noting that in addition to lesson contents, there are hundreds of thousands of contents in form of videos, animations, films, graphics in EBA internet, Selçuk stated, "the subject is not only about education and training. It is about how a global pandemic affects societies and persons".
Citing author Albert Camus' book entitled, "Plague", Minister Selçuk noted: "All countries share the same destiny. Of course, we did not want this. But there is a problem there and we did what we have to do during hard times and we will continue to do so. We always asked the question how we can do better and we achieved great success. I am proud to say that Turkey is among the few countries in the world."
"There is a need for richer contents"
Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk stressed that there is a need for richer contents adding that the Ministry has founded EBA support centers in order to support children who do not have internet access.
"We have established approximately 6 thousand EBA Support Centers for children who do not have access to the internet within a very short period of time. Children who need internet and computer can come and use these facilities. We are aiming at increasing the number of these centers to 20 thousand. We want every child to have access to these opportunities."
Selçuk stressed that 3 channels of TRT EBA continue to broadcast lessons without interruption and the Ministry achieved progress in overcoming early shortcomings in distance education during the summer.
"You can watch the lessons again whenever you want"
Minister of National Education Selçuk stated that channels do not only offer contents to students but also teachers and parents and pledged to offer rich contents for pre-school students and students with special needs.
Noting that the Ministry has been receiving demands for some new contents, Selçuk said they are aiming at responding all these demands and teams in Ankara and İstanbul are improving the quality of contents within this framework.
"We are working in an effort to include contents about culture, vocabulary, literature works and sports activities. Every morning at 8:45 we will air a sports hour which can be attended by students and their parents. I also think contents for students with special needs are very important. We have special responsibility in this field. We are having close contacts with academicians, experts and teachers in order to give what they need," stated Selçuk.
The Minister of National Education stressed that students also have the opportunity to watch any lesson they want again on EBA TV channels.
"We have faith in Turkey's pool of knowledge"
"These are not enough for us and we are open to all kinds of suggestions. We have the power of TRT behind us and we have the great pool of knowledge of the Ministry of National Education. When we blend these two strengths, we will have the opportunity to achieve great success," said Selçuk.
Noting that he has a faith in Turkey's pool of knowledge, the Minister of National Education stated that this knowledge allowed the Ministry to achieve great success in distance education and create the largest school in the whole world via television.
Selçuk added, "We have a big vision and dream regarding this subject. We will witness the developments together."
"60 lessons taped in 10 studios every day"
TRT General Director and Head of the Executive Board İbrahim Eren gave information about TRT EBA programs during his speech at the meeting.
"60 lessons are taped in 10 studios every day and different activities continue in other 6 studios during the same time. More than 200 TRT staff from different sections are working in TRT EBA TV programs."