Japanese Minister envied the 4+4+4 education system  
Japanese Minister envied the 4+4+4 education system

Japanese Minister envied the 4+4+4 education system

Minister of National Education Nabi Avcı met with Japanese Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Hakubun Shimomura. The Japanese Minister said his country wants to adopt the 4+4+4 12 year compulsory education system.

Japanese Minister envied the 4+4+4 education system

Minister of National Education Nabi Avcı met with visiting Japanese Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Hakubun Shimomura at a working luncheon and discussed educational issues.

Minister Avcı speaking at the meeting said he feels happy that the warm contacts in the field of education between the two countries are continuing with the visit of the minister. The minister pointed out that he had visited Japan to attend the Education for Sustainable Development World Conference and that he and his Japanese counterpart had held important talks on cooperation in education.

Minister Avcı recalled the close ties that have been estanlished when the Japanese people and government displayed great assistance and attention to the survivors when the Ertuğrul Frigate sunk on its way back to home after visiting Japan in 1890 after delivering presents and the Ottoman decoration of Sultan Abdulhamit to the Emperor of Japan. He said the incident is regarded as a start of the friendly ties between the people of the two countries and that the relations between Turkey and japan are further strengthened with the exchange of high level visits. He said the exchange of students are a bridge that keep the relations going.

Minister Avcı went on to say: “According to the framework of the technical cooperation between Turkey and the Japanese government on October 12, 2000 a five-year protocol was signed and the “Project to Set Up Industrial Automation Technologies Departments at the Anatolian Technical High Schools” was carried out with our schools being furnished with technological equipment and our staff being trained in Japan. The fact that on May 7, 2007 a new protocol “Program to Strengthen Expanding Industrial Automation at Technological Departments” was signed show that the project was successful.

Minister Avcı said the fact that the Ümitköy Türk Telekom Technical and Vocational High School is teaching Japanese is a concrete indicator of the relations between the two countries and added “we will be pleased if you also have a school that teaches Turkish at this level in Japan.”

Minister Avcı went on to say “seven thousand teachers were trained through the “Disaster Training at School Project” and after data showing the project was successful the Ministry had applied to the Ministry of Development to expand the project to all of Turkey.

Minister Avcı pointed out that JICA of Japan and TİKA of Turkey signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Feb.8, 2012 to strengthen their partnership in the Middle East, in Central Asia, in the Caucasus, in the Balkans and in Africa to help joint development efforts in these areas and added “thus we will be able to secure important achievements in the international arena as well as in our cooperation between the two countries. I would like to take this operation to stress that we are happy to be hosting the honorable minister in Turkey and stress that we are determined to continue the cooperation that we have been carrying out in various fields.

 

Japanese Minister Shimomura: “It’s my first visit to Turkey”

Japanese Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Hakubun Shimomuraon his part said he and his delegation are happy to be in Turkey and thanked Minister Avcı for attending the UNESCO conference in Japan last year.

Saying at the Ministry they has shouldered the task of expanding Education for Sustainable Development (EDS) in Japan and abroad “we want to continue our efforts in the world as well as in Turkey regarding EDS. In fact our bilateral talks in Japan in November where we met on the occasion of that meeting led to my visit today to Turkey. I could not come in January but now I am here for the first time in my life.”

After the luncheon Minister Avcı and Japanese Minister Shimomura held a joint press conference.

 

Cooperation with Japan in the Area of Education 

Speaking at the press conference Minister Avcı said: “We especially have cooperation tiers with Japan regarding vocational education. We discussed new projects that will further enhance our cooperation in the vocational, technical areas as well in higher education. We also reviewed the state of the Turkish-Japanese International University with the participation of our Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Industry Prof. Dr. Davut Kavranoğlu who is also the head of the Turkey-Japan Joint University Academic Council. We also shared views on Japanese academic support for the High Technology University to be established in Eskişehir.”“

Minister Avcı pointed out that Japanese archeologists are involved in some digs in Turkey and said “we agreed that we need stronger and more intense cooperation between our universities in the field of archeology. We also agreed to expand the sister school application between Turkish and Japanese schools. We discussed the application in Japan that integrates vocational high schools to vocation higher educational establishments. Deputy Minister Kavranoğlu and our Undersecretary Tekin will go to Japan to study the project that offers assured employment for graduates. They will see how we can apply this system in Turkey. Besides Japan has a good accumulation of information of the use of digital data. We also have a good accumulation of data that we are publishing through EDA regarding the FATİH project. We see a great potential of cooperation in that area. We discussed all these at great length with the visiting Minister in a very warm and sincere atmosphere.”

 

Gratitude to Turkey in school books 

Speaking at the press conference Japanese Minister Hakubun Shimomura on his part said:

“Minister of National Education His Excellency Avcı had participated in the UNESCO ESD conference held in Japan last November. We had bilateral talks on that occasion. We had agreed to continue our talks in Turkey. At the start of our talks I mentioned the textbook on morals which we started to use at our schools as of April last year.”

The Minister explained in the book that is used by secondary school students they included a section on how Turkey helped in the evacuation of 200 Japanese citizens who were stranded in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war in 1985. He said they highlighted the hospitality Turkey displayed and added “Turkey sent its planes to evacuate the Japanese despite the fact that there were many more Turks awaiting evacuation from Tehran at the time.”

Recalling the sea disaster in 1890 involving the sinking of the Ertuğrul Frigate while returning from Japan Minister Shimomura “we are teaching all the secondary school students this incident and we are showing them how the two nations display mutual solidarity and help each other in the international level. The solidarity and cooperation displayed by Turkey and Japan is being used as an educational material to raise new generations that will contribute to world peace and solidarity and to contribute to happiness of mankind by enhancing international values.” 

Minister Shimomura stressed that Turkey has made impressive headway in growth and development in the 21st century despite the fact that when compared to regional countries its natural resources are limited and added “we feel there is a human quality behind this development. Japan in fact is a small island state in the Far East. We have to agree that behind the Japanese success that has been acclaimed by the world lies the element of human beings and education. However, it does not seem possible that neither Japan nor Turkey can continue their development on their own capabilities. For this reason we are taking important steps during this visit to strengthen scientific and technological relations. We are strengthening cooperation in the educational field to further enhance existing friendly relations between Turkey and Japan. The most concrete example for this is the efforts to establish the Turkey-Japan Science and Technology University. The necessary commission meetings are in progress for the establishment of this university. I have to stress clearly that we as the Japanese government will make every effort to support strong cooperation relations.”

 

Ministers reply to questions by journalists

After the opening statements Minister of National Education Avcı replied to questions by journalists. The Minister said the high school placement exams were held in 970 centers, 18 thousand 349 schools in Turkey and in 16 centers in eight countries with the participation of 1 million 282 thousand 512 students and said there were no problems to jeopardize the safety of the exams.  

The Minister said about the speculation that in the Black Sea city of Ordu the locks for one of the boxes containing the exam papers had been broken that the Ministry has made the necessary statement a day before and stressed the exam boxes are secured by two keys and inside the box the papers are in three separate sealed bags.

He said the records show that the fact that one key had been broken while the box containing the exam papers was being transported did not pose any threat to the safety of the exam and added “thus there is no problem. In another incident a teacher was seen taking photos of the exam papers and sending it to other people. Investigation is in progress over the incident. But none of these jeopardize the safety of the exams, the safety of the questions or the answers. Despite all this we are investigating the reports.

The minister thanked all the teachers, principals, deputy principals, and members of the security forces, the gendarmerie, local officials and all other officials involved in the exams for completing a massive operation of this magnitude with success.

Minister Avcı said “I thank the security forces. In some places we received tips that some terrorists would try to sabotage the exams by preventing the question sheets from reaching the exam centers

and that they had handled the security operation in a very sensitive and professional manner thus preventing any mishaps.

Thanking the parents and congratulating the students who took part in the exams Minister Avcı said “these are one of the few exams that are held at this scale in the world and is a success for Turkey that the exams have been held without any hitches.”

Asked about the schools owned by the “Parallel Structure” (the Gülen Movement which tried to topple the government and failed) in Japan and whether these schools would be taken over the Turkish Ministry of National Education Minister Avcı said all matters on education concerning the two countries were discussed not only at this meeting but also at the meeting last November in Tokyo.

 

“People’s consciences won’t accept undeserved earnings”

Asked to comment on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statement that as a result of the investigation regarding those who won the state civil servants exams through fraud the state would reclaim the salaries it had paid until now Minister Avcı said “I also feel like the president. In fact I am sure the whole nation believes in the same way. The conscience of the nation cannot approve people earning something they do not deserve. The president has spoken on behalf of the nation. Thus there is no need for any further comment.”

About the claims that the high school placement exams were too hard, that the religion and math questions were very tough and that there were contradictory questions Minister Avcı said such speculations are made after every exam and that during the first exams there were accusations that the questions were too easy.

The minister said during the earlier exams about 4 thousand students had answered all the questions correctly and the Ministry was accused of making the exams too easy and now işt was blamed for making the exams too hard.

The minister recalled the proverb “Do not cut the ear locks in public, some will say it was too long and some will lament it was too short” and said “at times you have to cut the ear locks. You will have such complaints. Some will be long some short. Some of the claims may be justified. Some questions may be too hard or may be contradictory. We are investigating these. We do not have any information about the content of the exam until now.”

 

University entrance exams determined at special meeting

A journalist asked “there is talk that the university entrance exams will be changed to a new system like the high school placement exams instead of the current system. There is also talk that you discussed this with the head of the Board of Higher Education (YÖK) and the University Entrance Exams Establishment (ÖSYM). They apparently opposed any change. Is there such a study?” Minister Avcı replied “all new arrangements, reforms, all procedures on university entrance were defined atb a meeting of the Science and Technology Supreme Board (BTYK) three years ago. Saying at the meeting last week between the Ministry of National education, YÖK and ÖSYM they discussed the work plan and the exam calendar. “This was not a meeting that would overhaul the entrance system. We explained to YÖK and the ÖSYM the work we were doing to enhance the quality of the students entering university. It was coordination meeting to allow them to understand our efforts on various areas of education and the curriculums. It is wrong to portray this meeting as if we were aiming to set up a surprise meeting to overhaul the system.”

  

“Efforts are made to improve quality”

Minister Avcı was asked “did you propose a system similar to the hişgh school entrance exams?” He replied:

“We are discussing the high school entrance exams because we have 1.3 million students taking the university entrance exams. We have to increase the quality of these students in such a way that the faculties can accept students that come to them without hesitation. What does this mean? It means every candidate should find a place for him or herself that is suitable. So we see all our efforts at the secondary and high school education including the entrance exams system as an effort to enhance the quality of the students. The more the quality increases the more chance the students will have to enter the faculty they desire. So we are sharing this information with others. Our media may be speculating on this issue but the signals we are receiving from Japan show that we are on the right course.”

 

Japanese Minister: “We will adopt the 4+4+4 12 year compulsory education system”

Journalists asked the Japanese Minister whether there was anything they would like to carry from the Turkish system to their own system the Japanese official replied that Japan is highly impressed with increasing compulsory education to 12 years.

Minister Shimomura said compulsory education in Japan is nine years and that they would like it to be increased to 12 years and added “we could not switch to this because of financial restraints. I can give an example. The 12 year compulsory education system applied in Turkey is the highest level set among 200 countries. This will also set an example for us.”

In view of this statement Minister Avcı said “you see I did not say it. The visiting minister is saying this. The system he is talking about is the 4+4+4 12 year compulsory education system.”

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