Erdoğan’s Statements on Education and Technology

(İSTANBUL) – President and AK Party Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements at the Opening of the Academic Year, Education Technologies R&D and Quality Summit. Erdoğan said, “With technology, the risks our children face, especially addiction, are also increasing. We are witnessing how game platforms are poisoning our children. They are also mediating the encouragement of perverse movements with these games. Not only perverse movements but also racism is being fueled. The epicenter of the racism trap is the virtual world.”

President and AK Party Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the Education Technologies R&D and Quality Summit held at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress Hall. Starting his speech by wishing the new academic year to be beneficial for students and teachers, Erdoğan said the following:

“Words are inadequate to express the value of the service provided to our nation by each teacher who works with determination and is kneaded with their ideals. We are a nation that has been struggling for a thousand years to make our lands our homeland. We have buried many of our children for this cause. From Çanakkale to the War of Independence, we repelled the attacks against our future until July 15 thanks to our precious martyrs. One of the groups that put their lives on the line is our teachers. I respectfully remember our education soldiers such as Necmettin Yılmaz and Aybüke teachers. We will not forget our teachers and students who lost their lives in the February 6 earthquakes.

“The number of classrooms, which was 367 thousand in 2002, has more than doubled”

With every investment we make in education, we are getting closer to our goal of the Turkish Century. In 22 years, we have taken historic steps that objective observers admire. Our number of classrooms, which was 367 thousand in 2002, has more than doubled. Our number of teachers, which was 540 thousand in 2002, has increased to 1.2 million. We have strengthened equal opportunities in education. We have distributed 4 billion textbooks free of charge. We have expanded the elective course pool and added new courses in the fields of human, science, society, religion, morality and value, culture and arts, and sports. In addition to the Quran and the life of Hz. Prophet, we have added new courses last year. Some of these courses are etiquette, artificial intelligence, agriculture and food safety, and Islamic science history. We have abolished tutelary practices. We have ended the coefficient and headscarf ban that caused injustice among our children.

“We provided fiber internet to 16 thousand schools”

We will provide high-speed internet to our schools. We have provided fiber internet to 16 thousand schools. We have provided wired internet to 28 thousand schools. We have installed interactive boards in 626 thousand 500 classrooms. Turkey is the only country in the world that has interactive boards in all its classrooms. We have added 500 more innovative classrooms to our schools. We aim to increase this number to 5500. Steps in this area are also being reflected internationally. We have left OECD countries behind with a rate of 91 percent in digital learning. Hopefully, we will reach even better places. We have left OECD countries behind with a rate of 91 percent in digital learning. Hopefully, we will reach even better places.

“We witness how gaming platforms poison our children”

We are launching a new initiative in vocational and technical education. We are healing the wounds in every area from accommodation of our teachers in earthquake zones to remedial lessons of students. The risks our children face, especially addiction to technology, are also increasing. We are witnessing how game platforms poison our children. They also mediate the encouragement of deviant movements with these games. Not only deviant movements but also racism are fueled. The epicenter of the racism trap is the virtual world. The chaotic structure of the digital world brings with it many threats. No one talks about freedoms and market economy in the strict measures taken by other countries, but when we take measures, we become the target of criticism. Last month, we were accused of being prohibitive with the measure we took against a platform. It is unacceptable to legitimize hate crimes and even abuse. The health of our children is above everything. We must be united and united for our children. Managing and directing change is in our hands.

“We call the generation that is not a slave to technology the TEKNOFEST generation”

We will not allow our children to become alienated from themselves, their families and their surroundings. If we allow technology to take our children captive, we will neither do ourselves nor our children any good. Technology is beneficial to the extent that it makes our lives easier. When it starts to dominate people, things get out of hand. We have children who are unhappy and have temper tantrums because of computer games. We have children who have difficulty communicating with their parents and siblings. We have young people whose education is disrupted because they spend their days in front of a screen. We have many children who have lost the distinction between the real world and the virtual world and unfortunately cannot distinguish between the two. We have people who experience mental distress. Our citizens from all age groups struggle with the problems brought by technology. We are faced with a reality that has both positive and negative aspects. We have to raise awareness among parents and children. We call the generation that is not captive to technology the TEKNOFEST generation. We are implementing all the necessary legal regulations so that our children do not encounter situations such as misuse of their personal data, bullying and abuse. With the education model, we aim to raise our children as individuals with open minds and broad horizons. I hope our model will be beneficial…”