Turkey takes steps to streamline education: Erdogan

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

Turkey has taken major steps to streamline the education sector over the last 16 years, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an opening ceremony for the 2018-2019 academic year in Istanbul’s Kabatas High School, Erdogan said the government put effort to tackle the piled problems in education system.

"We have taken major steps to eliminate the deficiencies in education system, to ensure it meets modern age standards and to find solutions to the accrued problems over the last 16 years," Erdogan said.

Turkish education system has become more "liberal and democratic", the president added.

"As of today, Turkey reached a position where it leaps forward and makes a new move in the field of education," he said.

Erdogan also said the Turkish government has appointed 605,450 teachers to the schools over the last 16 years and raised the number over 920,000.

He added that the total number of classrooms exceeded 577,000 in 16 years.

Erdogan said for the first time, Turkey established social sciences high schools and sports high schools.