Minister Yusuf Tekin said in his speech at the One Step Ahead in Education Summit organized by the NUN Education and Culture Foundation in Beykoz that they are aware of their responsibility for being in a position to build the Century of Türkiye projection, sloganized by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

 

Referring to Israel's attacks on Gaza, Tekin stated that they are witnessing a process in which the imperial world order is bankrupt once again.

 

Noting that he has been teaching courses on subjects such as constitutional law and human rights at universities for years, the Minister expressed that the developments they have experienced in recent years reveal that the subjects being taught in academia is a big lie.

 

Stating that the main purpose of education is to raise good citizens and that it is significant that the theme of the summit is a return to the essence, Tekin said that the return to the essence expresses dissatisfaction with the current situation and the search for a simple and sustainable regime of truth from a chaotic way of living. He underlined that they rightly want to be sure of the future of the children to whom they will entrust the future and the course of the country in this period when we are on the threshold of the Century of Türkiye.

 

Noting that the general purpose of education is to improve the knowledge, skills, values and behaviors of individuals, Minister Tekin said that their aim is to prepare individuals for society and life and to maximize their personal potential. Underlining that education is decisive as a learning process that continues throughout the lives of individuals, the Minister said that education comes to their agenda in different ways such as school, university, vocational training, private courses or self-learning.

 

Pointing out that education is the most dominant part of the human education system, Tekin said that every society has to shape, base and implement certain routines of daily life, past and future vision through education.

 

Tekin noted that some of the problems they will face in education in the upcoming years have already begun to give signals in the global order. Stating that while artificial intelligence technologies produce an unfair competition area that will weaken the power of human resources, Minister Tekin stressed that the new discussions and problems produced by virtual worlds have come to challenge educators at many points. Tekin evaluated that this new and extraordinary situation will diversify the problems in the field of education, and the tension that will be revealed by the process may force us to meet more tightly with the concept of returning to the self.

 

Pointing out that determining education policies correctly is a critical factor for the development and progress of society, Tekin stated that taking social needs, research and data-based approach into consideration will help create a quality and qualified education system.

 

Expressing that everyone should be involved in the process and calmly handle and evaluate the changes that humanity is exposed to, the Minister underlined that they are obliged to address the new states of the world with accurate and genuine analysis, without giving any opportunity for panic. Adding that they must get rid of the orientalist perspectives imposed on them, Minister Tekin pointed out that their cause of education, which they have kept alive as a useful area of responsibility for a long time, requires strong arguments, new paradigms, real goals, and appropriate as well as sustainable plans in directing them to new purposes.

 

Chairwoman of the Board of NUN Education and Culture Foundation Dr. Esra Albayrak stated that they refuse to look for a solution for a more prosperous, just, peaceful and humane future within the system that creates the problems.

 

Albayrak stated that babies, children and women have lost their lives under tons of bombs dropped every day on Gaza in the last 29 days.

 

Noting that the world is giving an alarm, Albayrak said that they have to question this trend if the information technologies, space technologies and artificial intelligence algorithms, which are advancing at an unprecedented pace in history, will not be at the service of humanity or keep people alive, and will threaten the existence of humanity on earth.

 

Deputy Minister of National Education Nazif Yılmaz, expert academics, teachers and guests attended the program.