Minister Tekin: “We are currently the only country with ‘smart boards’ in all of our classrooms.”

The Minister of National Education, Yusuf Tekin, attended the ‘MEBİ Individual Learning Platform Introduction Program’ held in Ankara. Minister Tekin noted that the AI-supported MEBİ platform will support high school students preparing for university, stating, “According to the reports of the United Nations (UN), we are currently the only country in the world that has ‘smart boards’ in all its classrooms.”

Minister Tekin participated in the ‘MEBİ Individual Learning Platform Introduction Program’ organized at Ankara Gazi Anatolian High School. The event began with the singing of the National Anthem and continued with students who experienced the platform introducing the system. Esma Beyza Yuvacı, one of the school students, presented how the AI-supported ‘buddy’ within the platform works to the other students, while Öykü Yılmaz explained the contributions the platform brought to her educational process.

“We are the only country in the world with ‘smart boards’ in all its classrooms”

After the students completed their presentations, Minister Tekin stated, “We want to equip our educational environments both physically and in terms of content to be able to compete with the most developed countries in the world. We are making a very intense effort for this. In this sense, the Turkey Century Education Model that our 9th-grade students are exposed to this year is the product of such an effort. Whatever the exemplary countries and applications in education that are considered good are doing, we have done the same. This is one aspect of the situation. Twenty years ago, there wasn’t a single school like this in your current schools. Now, all our schools have transformed into top-notch facilities in this regard. We did not find these sufficient. We are improving our infrastructure with technology; right now, almost all our schools, including those in the most remote corners, have internet infrastructure. We have placed the boards that you refer to more as ‘smart boards’ in all classrooms, what we call interactive transfer. According to the reports of the United Nations (UN), we are currently the only country in the world that has ‘smart boards’ in all its classrooms,” he said.

“All questions asked by ÖSYM are entirely in our curriculum”

Minister Tekin expressed that they have observed students resorting to other auxiliary resources outside of the ministry’s books and materials. He stated that auxiliary resources are problematic for them and emphasized, “I emphasize this: none of these auxiliary resources have been approved by the Ministry of National Education. In other words, our Board of Education and Discipline has not seen any of these. Therefore, you might think that these books have been examined by the Ministry of National Education, and thus, you believe they will contribute to your exam preparation process. We have not approved any of them. Now, those books can mislead you during the process. Secondly, the teachers who teach your classes cannot be compared to the other teachers from whom you take extra courses in places like underground courses. Our teachers in our schools will provide you with the most accurate information on this matter. The Transition to Secondary Education Exam is conducted directly by the Ministry of National Education. We also work with ÖSYM in university placement exams. Therefore, we constantly request the correspondence of the questions that will be asked to you from our curriculum from ÖSYM. All the questions asked by ÖSYM are entirely in our curriculum,” he said.

The program ended after taking a commemorative photo.