New school year begins for millions of students with pro-democracy theme

Millions of students marked the beginning of the new school year at primary and high schools yesterday amid remembrance of those fallen in the fight for democracy during the July 15 coup attempt.

In the early hours of Monday, students flocked to schools across the country. Hundreds of students, including first graders with their parents, crowded schoolyards for ceremonies to mark the start of the first semester. Each were handed pamphlets about the coup attempt and were later shown videos about the coup attempt in classrooms.

Students will be informed on the meaning of the coup attempt as well as the significance of the civilian struggle against the pro-coup soldiers on the first week of school. On the first day at school, pupils also observed a minute of silence for pro-democracy activists killed by coup plotters.

For about 18 million students, the new semester brings major changes, most prominently, the assignment of new teachers after thousands were suspended for links to the terrorist groups. The suspension of teachers suspected of having ties to the PKK followed the dismissal of teachers with links to Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) which is accused of masterminding the putsch attempt.

In Istanbul, the country's largest city, traffic congestion was prevalent on already busy roads and streets as thousands of school buses hit the road. To curb the congestion, the municipality offered free public transportation for commuters, easing traffic slightly for the morning rush hour.

This year brings major changes to Turkey's education as thousands of schools were closed and more than 28,000 teachers were dismissed from duty as part of an anti-terror campaign. To fill the void, authorities hired "unassigned" teachers who had to wait years for an appointment due to a surplus of teachers. Schools run by FETÖ members were handed over to the state and will continue serving as public schools while students enrolled in those schools were transferred to public schools.

Addressing the students at a school in his hometown Erzincan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım emphasized that the government increased the budget earmarked for education to more than TL 100 billion ($33.606 billion) from TL 10 billion in 14 years, and this investment in the future was "far more sustainable than the investment in the infrastructure." "You are the bright future of Turkey. You have seen what the Turkish youth is capable of when they bravely stood against tanks on July 15," Yıldırım said.

Accompanying Yıldırım in Erzincan, the Minister of National Education İsmet Yılmaz said they would put an emphasis on vocational education this year as Turkey strives to train more skilled manpower to help boost the economic growth. "We have 44 percent of students in middle education enrolled in vocational education and we aim to increase it to over 50 percent," Yılmaz said. The minister said apprenticeship training and internship will be mandatory for vocational school students, and the state would cover the internship and healthcare fees for vocational school students.

The first school term will end on Jan. 20 and the second term will start on February 6 and will continue until summer recess scheduled to begin on June 9.