The 2024-2025 school year for primary and secondary education institutions under the Ministry of National Education (MEB) begins on Monday with an opening lesson themed "Spirit of Independence and Love of the Homeland from Çanakkale to Gaza."
Approximately 20 million students and 1.2 million teachers will start the new school year after the summer vacation, across nearly 74,000 schools and around 750,000 classrooms.
Orientation training was held on Sept. 2-3 for preschool and first-grade students, guidance activities for middle school students will take place this week to help them adjust to school.
In the first week of the new school year, all classes in basic and secondary education will begin with an opening lesson themed "Spirit of Independence and Love of the Homeland from Çanakkale to Gaza."
This year, several innovations will be implemented in the education process.
As part of the Türkiye Century Education Model, the new curriculum will be applied for the first time in preschool, and in first, fifth and ninth grades. The new curriculum simplifies lesson content by 35%.
In the initial levels starting with the new curriculum, students will use "skills framework" based textbooks prepared by the ministry.
The new books include activities, animations, simulations, digital history, augmented reality and AI-supported applications via QR codes, aiming to help students learn without needing additional resources.
Additionally, free textbooks have been distributed to students as part of the 2024-2025 school year preparations.
Training has been provided to teachers regarding the education model.
A major focus for the 2024-2025 school year will be vocational and technical education, under the "Everyone Should Have a Profession" philosophy of the Vocational and Technical Education Policy Document, new practices will be introduced to enhance vocational and technical education and supply qualified personnel to the production sector.
Vocational and technical high schools will start to open vocational middle schools within their institutions this year, following the creation of craft workshops in the seventh and eighth grades of middle schools.
To promote early engagement in sports and identify talented students, Türkiye’s first "sports middle schools" will accept students in nine cities from the start of the new school year.
For the first time, the Ministry of National Education has automatically assigned first-grade sections and class teachers and fifth-grade sections of middle schools through the e-School system.
To strengthen cooperation between schools and families this year, the "Velivizyon" platform has been launched by the ministry.
The "national common exam" practice initiated last year will be more comprehensive this year. While common exams were conducted last year in Turkish, Turkish language and literature, and mathematics for sixth and ninth grades, they will now also be applied to seventh and 10th grades.
The class parent practice will not be permitted this year, and parents will not be able to visit schools without appointments. The ban on cellphone use in classrooms will continue.
Starting with the new school year, the MEB will certify efforts to increase energy efficiency in schools, use resources efficiently and develop eco-friendly schools with a "green flag."
This year, primary and middle school students will plant trees in designated areas and maintain and monitor these trees during their schooling. Schools will receive training on water conservation, waste management and environmental awareness, and efforts will be made to make school gardens more eco-friendly.
The first semester break will be from Nov. 11-15, 2024.
The first semester of the new school year will end on Jan. 17, 2025, and the mid-term break will start on Jan. 20 and end on Jan. 31. The second semester will begin on Feb. 3 and end on June 20.
The second semester break will be from March 31 to April 4.
