Statement from President Özmeriç: “If the entry and exit times of schools change, all programs will be disrupted.”

Semih Özmeriç, the President of the Aydın Chamber of Drivers and Automobile Owners, made a statement regarding the “school and lesson hour application” circular sent to all provincial governorships with the signature of Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, saying, “If the school entrance and exit times change at this stage, all programs will be disrupted.”

In the circular regarding the start and end times of lessons in primary and secondary schools, relevant provisions from the Regulation on Secondary Education Institutions and the Regulation on Pre-School Education and Primary Education Institutions are included. Additionally, the authority to determine daily working hours according to the characteristics of the regions and services is granted to the provincial governorships in the State Personnel Law No. 657. President Semih Özmeriç made a statement about this as well.

Emphasizing that with the ministry’s circular, the authority of the provincial governorships to determine the starting times of working hours and lesson hours on a provincial basis was left due to the continuation of daylight saving time according to the provisions of the legislation, Özmeriç stated, “If this initiative is used now and the school entrance and exit times change, all programs will be disrupted. Currently, the school entrance and exit times are programmed to coincide with the parents’ working hours. If this changes, due to the mismatch in times, everyone’s program will be disrupted. A parent who drops off their child at school while going to work in the morning will face difficulties if the school entrance and exit times change. Many service providers have organized their entire schedules for both student and workplace transportation as well. If the school entrance and exit times change, they will either be unable to operate the worker’s service or the student’s service. This situation will also negatively affect costs, thus impacting both the national economy and family economies adversely.”

“Decisions should be made in a meeting with relevant parties”
Özmeriç expressed that they find Aydın fortunate in this regard and trust Governor Yakup Canbolat due to his experience and successful administrative system. He stated, “We trust our Governor’s state and administrative experience. We believe that all arrangements to be made in this case will be conducted by our Governor by gathering the relevant parties together and obtaining the opinions of the education community, parents, students, and service providers.”