Mahmut Özer

Some 16,000 libraries have been established across the country in two months, said the education minister.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the library in a high school in the capital Ankara, named after psychiatrist Erol Göka, Education Minister Mahmut Özer said that 16,361 schools that did not have a library have been provided with libraries in the last two months.

For the first time in Türkiye, the schooling rate of the girls has surpassed the boys, the country's education minister has said.

Speaking in an event in the southeastern province of Gaziantep on June 21, Mahmut Özer noted that the number of the female students topped the number of the male students in the country without giving further data.

An arbitrary increase in annual private school fees, which became a hot topic on the country's agenda for some people, reaching up to 294,000 liras ($17,750), cannot be accepted, Education Minister Mahmut Özer has said.

"We are evaluating all complaints from parents on this issue and will intervene if needed," Özer said on June 7.

Demirören Media High School, a vocational school that will train young journalists who will be well-equipped with skills to work in the media sector, has been inaugurated in Istanbul with a ceremony attended by Turkish Education Minister Mahmut Özer.

The number of students in Turkey is more than the populations of 150 countries around the world, the country's education minister said on May 24.

Speaking during the World Education Forum in London, Education Minister Mahmut Özer said that around 19 million students are receiving education in preschools, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools.

The Turkish Education Ministry has launched a major eco-friendly and zero-waste focused project aimed at enabling schools to generate their own electricity from solar power, including setting up libraries built with recycled materials.

Mandatory use of protective face masks is no longer required for millions of students and teachers in Turkey, as the government eased measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in a historic move on April 26.

A library named after daily Hürriyet's columnist Doğan Hızlan has been inaugurated by Turkish Education Minister Mahmut Özer inside a high school in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on April 20, Hızlan advised young people to read books, saying, "Everybody should learn their native language well, and this can only be obtained by reading books."

A short mid-term break for more than 18 million students and over 1 million teachers in Turkey began on April 8.

Classes will resume on April 15.

Four months ago, students went onto a two-week winter break after completing their first semester and receiving their mid-term report cards on Jan. 21.

No schools are currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Turkey's Education Minister Mahmut Özer has said, as the number of daily cases has been lingering around 95,000 across the country.