Pre-school education summit set to open in Istanbul

The Pre-School Education Summit, which will start on Saturday in Istanbul, will highlight the importance of pre-school education to raise awareness on the subject.

Organized by Future Is In Education Association, the summit will bring together education officials, children's authors and celebrities. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's wife Emine Erdoğan will also attend the summit, whose theme is "Our Values and Family." The summit, which will be broadcast live, primarily addresses teachers and parents. Pre-school education is a relatively new concept in Turkey and has significantly improved since 2002 with the opening of more nursery schools across the country.

Turkey now hosts more than 1.1 million pre-school students, a number dramatically increased from only 289,000 in 2002. Erdinç Aydoğan, head of Future Is In Education Association, said figures showed that pre-school education in Turkey has dramatically improved. He said the summit, which will be the largest education convention in the country, aims to raise further awareness for education and will discuss the advantages of a pre-school education.