Students back to school as new academic year begins

Around 20 million students and 1.2 million teachers across Türkiye returned to their classrooms after a three-month summer break, eager to start the new academic year with fresh aspirations and renewed energy.

This year, education will take place in roughly 750,000 classrooms across 74,000 schools nationwide.

"We are starting the 2024-2025 academic year with the 'Century of Türkiye Education Model,' which we think will mark a significant milestone in the history of Turkish education," Education Minister Yusuf Tekin said in a statement.

"We have revised our educational programs to better meet the needs of the age and have made them 35 percent more simplified. I am confident that the transformation brought about by this skill-based approach will address a number of issues in our educational system."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also shared his sentiments in a social media post: "I wish that our students, the future's guarantors, will succeed in their studies and that our esteemed teachers will fulfill their important roles successfully."

The new education season commenced with an opening lesson with the theme of "Spirit of Independence and Love of the Homeland from Çanakkale to Gaza."

As part of the "Century of Türkiye Education Model," the new curriculum will be implemented for kindergarten, first grade, fifth grade and ninth grade students for the first time this year.

These students will use skills-based textbooks developed by the ministry. These newly introduced textbooks feature QR codes which include exercises, animations, simulations, digital history, augmented reality and AI-powered applications.

This year's elementary and secondary school students will also plant trees in approved locations and will...