UPDATE - School bell to ring for over 18M students in Turkey

UPDATES WITH TURKISH PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

By Ahmet Sertan Usul and Sena Guler

ANKARA (AA) - School bells will ring for over 18 million students and a million teachers in Turkey on Monday at the start of a new academic year.

School-goers will enjoy the first break between Nov. 18-22, 2019, and the mid-term break will be between Jan. 20-31, 2020.

The first semester of 2019-2020 academic year will end on Jan.17, 2020 and the second semester is scheduled to begin on Feb. 3 and end on June 19.

The students will take a break between April 6-10 in the second half.

In May 2019, Turkey shortened the 13-week summer break for schools to 11 weeks in a move to increase efficiency in education.

According to National Education Minister Ziya Selcuk, Turkey was among the countries with the longest summer break, which increases the possibility of students to forget what they have learned.

Selcuk had also said that each break would have a theme in areas of science, culture, art, and sports, giving children a chance for social activities.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a message wishing success to all students and teachers and stressed the importance of education in a nation’s development.

“The most fundamental power which will make Turkey reach its goals in development and progress is educated and qualified human-power.

“With this understanding education has always been one of our priorities,” Erdogan said.

He added that Turkey will continue to keep up with new developments and make new reforms in the education sector.