Minister Avcı discloses Regulation on Private Educational Institutions  
Minister Avcı discloses Regulation on Private Educational Institutions

Minister Avcı discloses Regulation on Private Educational Institutions

Minister of National Education Nabi Avcı announced he has sent the Regulation on Private Educational Institutions that stipulates changes for the private educational institutions during the process of the transformation of preparatory schools to the Office of the Prime Minister for its publication in the Official Gazette “I suppose it will be published tonight. It will be out by tomorrow.”

Minister Avcı discloses Regulation on Private Educational Institutions

Minister of Education Avcı answered questions of journalists before he met with Sapardurdi Toyliyev, the Turkmenistan Council of Ministers Deputy Prime Minister in charge of educational affairs at the Cırağan Palace.
 
Asked about the new regulation on the transformation of preparatory schools to private high schools in view of the recent Constitutional Court verdict Minister Avcı said the necessary changes in the regulations were made according to the points highlighted in the preamble of the Constitutional Court verdict.
 
Minister Avcı said the Regulation on Private Educational Institutions was sent to the Office of the Prime Minister to be published in the Official Gazette and added “I suppose it will be published tonight. The new regulations will be out by tomorrow.”
 
Disclosing the new clauses in the regulations Minister Avcı said in the laws and regulations there is no institution called “preparatory schools.”
 
Avcı pointed out that in the Constitution, in the Basic National Education Law and in all other laws it is clearly specified that the Ministry of National Education is in charge of regulating and supervising all educational activities in Turkey went on to say “This is a duty and a responsibility for our Ministry. We are charged with regulating and supervising all educational activities in Turkey no matter what they are called and what they do. So how do we fulfill our responsibilities? In the related law and regulations all institutions are well defined, their criteria are also well defined and their activities are well defined. So when an institutions applies to the Ministry of Education to obtain a permission to function we look at whether it fulfills the criteria or not. Then we study whether the program it will apply suits the basic principles of the Basic Law on National Education. Once we grant the permission to open an institution we do periodical studies to see whether they fulfill their obligations. This is valid for all educational institutions. This is valid for all our schools, for public and private schools, for all courses, study and educational centers. Thus these criteria have to be defined in an open manner.”
 
 
“Special Educational Course” instead of Preparatory Schools
 
Minister Avcı said with the latest changes in the Regulation of Private Educational Institutions the courses which were mentioned in general terms are now specified in four categories.
Minister Avcı said one of these furnishes the requirements of students and their parents who want to receive educational support outside the schools which was previously undertaken by preparatory schools and added “we called them Private Educational Courses. The regulation specifies in detail the criteria on how Private Educational Courses will be opened, how the existing educational institutions will be transformed into such courses.”
 
Minister Avcı pointed out that the Constitutional Court has not annulled the articles of the law on the transformation of the preparatory schools “thus the basic high schools are continuing to function just like the courses. So the way was open for those institutions that wanted to be transformed into private schools, kindergartens, primary schools, high schools, private study centers and various courses. The verdict of the Constitutional Court emphasizes this in a very clear manner. So all the institutions whether they have been transformed or not transformed, all those who have applied to be transformed or those who have not applied all can be converted according to the rules and conditions specified in the Regulation on Private Educational Institutions. They will be able to carry out their activities under any name like the private educational course, or if they want they can become private high schools, educational study centers provided they meet the criteria. The private education institutions are institutions that are set up to provide outside school support to students who want such assistance at the weekends or during the week.
 
 
“The ‘Private Educational Institutions’ will now be a part of our life for those who want to receive extra scholastic education.”
 
Minister Avcı said the regulations clearly specify which programs will be applied in the private educational institutions and these include specific groups like math and science and that the Board of Education and Discipline is preparing a framework course program for the science groups.
 
Minister Avcı explained that the institutions that want to transform into private educational courses can opt for three subjects in the science groups according to programs specified and approved by the Board of Education and Discipline. Minister Avcı went on to say “What kind of physical conditions is required for these courses, what are the building requirements, which programs will be applied for how many hours and how many days in a year? What are the conditions required to open such courses? All these have been specified in very clear terms in our regulation. Thus as of tomorrow the need for “receiving extra scholastic education” specified by the Constitutional Court will be met with private educational courses. Let this benefit our nation.
 
Minister Avcı said the Ministry of Education is providing support courses to 2.6 million students at its schools free of charge and added “if people do not suffice with this and if they insist on receiving such support from the private sector the private educational courses will be the address.
 
 
Minister Avcı explained that before and after the verdict of the Constitutional Court the Ministry had consulted the representatives of the private education sector and discussed how the private educational institutions should function and said from now on the Ministry will continue to work to improve conditions for students and parents who want additional private educational support.
 
Asked how many courses the private courses will be allowed to provide Minister Avcı said the Board of Education and Discipline has prepared a framework program regarding the curriculum of the courses and has determined groups that include math, physics and social sciences.
 
 
“Classes for 16 students”
 
Minister of National Education Avcı said an institution that opens a private education course will be able to give courses on three subjects and each class will be for 16 students. Minister Avcı said “as there is a demand for a very private kind of tuition and people want private support courses we felt a maximum of 16 students per class will be required. The classes could have less than 16 students but not more than 16.”
 
Minister Avcı said the Ministry has given the right to state high schools to open their own private educational courses during the week for their students and on the weekends for their graduates and that this is also included in the regulations. Avcı went on to say “we announce this over and over again. We are providing additional courses to our students free of charge at our own high schools. They ask us what will happen to the graduates. Last year we answered this by our actions. Last year we gave such courses to our graduates at the Public Education Centers. There are questions on whether their infrastructure of the Public Education Centers is suitable for such a program. Yes they are because the Public Education Centers can be used for educational activities like extra courses for our high school students according to a plan. Thus we neither have a problem about the availability of teachers or a problem concerning infrastructure. So with the latest arrangements besides the education we provide at the high schools we also offer additional courses free of charge as well as weekend courses. They have classes in all areas. We also have teachers. For graduates we have courses at the Public Education Centers. So for those who do not suffice with all these we have added a new choice. These are the private educational courses. Besides all this the private schools are also allowed to open special courses during the weekends to provide additional courses for their students.
 
 
“No courses on Sundays”
 
Minister Avcı said the requirement of the Constitutional Court stipulated in the preamble of its verdict “increasing the preferences for private education outside state schools” will be met with the new regulation and asked if the courses will be on weekdays or weekends he replied “yes both during the week and one day on the weekends. We want the children to rest at least a day. That is why there may be courses on Saturdays but not on Sundays. So it will be Saturdays for students and Sunday belongs to them.”
 
A journalist asked the Minister “the name of the schools will not be Preparatory Schools and will from now on be called private educational courses. Will these institutions undergo any changes or will they remain as they are?” Minister Avcı said “the new regulation explains how the private educational courses will be opened, how they will be described, what kind of infrastructure is needed, what kind of curriculum is applied, how people will be educated. So all the educational institutions that have not applied for transformation to high schools will be required to meet the new standards and rules.”
 
Minister Avcı also said they do not want students from different ages receiving the same education in the same classes thus the new regulation also has clauses on this issue. “If you are a student of first grade you will not go to courses with second and third year graders or with graduates.”
Minister Avcı reported that students who will go to primary and secondary schools will also benefit from the courses at private study centers and added “students will continue to benefit from the private study centers. We had put a age 12 limit in the law which was annulled by the Constitutional Court. So in the new regulation we mentioned primary and secondary school students according to the ruling of the court.”
 
 
 
“No institution called Preparatory School”
 
Minister Avcı said the new regulations were prepared after consultations with legal and education experts and said under the existing laws and regulations there is no mention of Preparatory School and went on to say “there is no such institution. What can be done is for deputies who asked for the annulment at the Constitutional Court to draft a new law where such institutions can be set up arbitrarily, without any rules and regulations, without any supervision, without any controls, with vague curriculums, wherever they want and under all conditions and the law describes the intuition as a ‘preparatory school’. Then they actually legislate the bill and then the Ministry of National Education allows this. But at the moment there is no such law and no such institution.”  
 
Minister Avcı recalled that students receive classes for 35 hours a week and added “we calculated the need of students who will take the university exams and which of the three groups they need for their support courses. The group of lessons that students who want to go to medical school is clear. So if someone says let me go to such a course that I will be able to have all the knowledge to be able to go to medical school, to engineering and literature they will be subjected to a super course. This is what we are doing at our public high schools. We are providing such an education at our schools.”
 
Minister Avcı said with the changes the Ministry made in the curriculum students could get into university without any extra lessons and to high schools from secondary schools. “Despite this this is a transition phase. We are aware that we still have parents who psychologically need such support. We hope with the latest arrangements we will be satisfying such needs.”
 
Asked about the work carried out by the Ministry of Education on the transformation of preparatory schools to high schools after the preamble of the Constitutional Court verdict was made public, Minister Avcı said it would be appropriate to summarize the issue once again.
 
Minister Avcı recalled that with the law passed by Parliament on March 1, 2014 the Private Educational Institutions were redefined and the Law on Private Educational Institutions showed what should be understood of the term private educational institutions.
 
Minister Avcı said according to bill No. 5580 called Private Educational Institutions Law private educational centers, minority schools, foreign schools and various courses were included and how these will function was specified in the Regulation for Private Educational Institutions.
 
Minister Avcı went on to say: “The annulment verdict of the Constitutional Court was conceived as if it only dealt with preparatory schools. No that is wrong. The annulment appeal was made for eight articles of the law. On some of these articles the Constitutional Court refused annulment and favored the Ministry. Meanwhile it annulled the article that stipulated Preparatory Schools should be closed down by September b1, 2015. We had previously deleted the word Preparatory Schools from the law thus with the annulment verdict we had a vacuum regarding these schools.
 
Minister Avcı said the preamble of the Constitutional Court verdict says this vacuum should be filled with secondary arrangements, regulations and rules and that the Ministry has to fulfill the need of students and parents who want additional educational support. He went on to say “On the annulment verdict we see the court has acted on four criteria. It first looks at whether the crux of basic rights and freedoms has been violated with the law. When they talk about basic rights and freedoms they mean freedom of entrepreneurship and right for education. We see from the preamble of the verdict of the Constitutional Court that our regulations do not hurt the soul of the issue. The second criteria is that basic rights and freedom scan only be limited through laws. The basic criteria for the annulment by the Constitutional Court was the measures taken in moderation. So when you undertook the regulation did you act with moderation? They evaluated the law from this perspective.
 
 
 
“Our basic high schools will continue as the Constitutional Court agreed on our application”
 
Minister Avcı said when they were making their defense at the Constitutional Court they presented to the court what they wanted to do for the students and parents who want additional support as extra scholastic activities and went on to say “what did we promise? We first promised to transform the schools to private schools. We expanded the right to set up private schools for the private sector institutions that want to be involved in education. How did we expand this? If preparatory schools could not be converted to private high schools because they cannot meet the desired standards then we allowed them a four year transition period to transform themselves. The Constitutional Court accepted this thus the basic high schools will continue.”
 
Minister Avcı also reminded students and parents that the Ministry offers free of charge courses for additional education for those who need supplementary courses.
 
Minister Avcı repeated that the Ministry had launched supplementary courses during the week and on weekends that covered 2.6 million students last year.
 
Minister Avcı said 112 thousand teachers are providing supplementary courses for students during the week and on weekends “so we had already started providing supplementary courses for students and thus expanding the means to provide them additional support as we mentioned at the Constitutional Court.

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