The Turkish National Education System

In Turkey education is performed under the supervision and control of the state. According to Article 42 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, everyone has the right to receive education. Individuals are educated by orienting them to various programs and schools throughout their education, depending on their interests and capabilities. It is essential that the educational system should realize this orientation.

The objective of education, according Basic Law No. 1739 for National Education, is to educate individuals:

• Who adopt the values of the Turkish nation,
• Who know the duties and responsibilities to their country and have made them a part of their behavior,
• Who can produce knowledge, can utilize the knowledge and technology produced, and
• Who are democratic citizens and respect human rights.

Furthermore, the objective of the National Education System also includes preparing them for the future and providing for them to acquire a profession that will contribute to the happiness of themselves and the society.

From the first years of the Republic up until the present, great increases were obtained in the number of schools, students and teachers, and activities aimed at educating qualified manpower were made and a vast group of people were educated. At every branch and level of the education system there realized an increase of 12 times in the number of schools, 45 times in the number of students and 46 times in the number of teachers.

Since education is considered as the most significant component of economic, social and technological development in the country, great importance is placed on education both in the government and development plans. Therefore, continuous increases in the resources are being made in order to meet the educational requirements of the population. For the formation of the infrastructure that will meet the goals and expectations in education, the preparations for the Educational Master Plan, including the years

1996-2010, have been made. Also the activities are continuing in the direction of making the education flexible so that it answers the individual, national and global demands for education and to facilitate entering and leaving the educational system.

The Structure of the Turkish Education System.

The Turkish National Educational System is composed of two main sections:

• Formal Education and

• Non-formal Education in accordance with Basic Law No. 1739 for National Education.

Formal Education means the school system and comprises the institutions of preschool education, primary education, secondary education and higher education. Non- formal education includes all the activities organized outside or alongside the school. In the 1999-2000 school year, a total of 15,727,929 students received education training in 65,905 formal and non-formal educational institutions and 532,595 teachers worked in these institutions.