Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's speech: Dear representatives of our education community, our valuable teachers, our dear students, I greet you with my most heartfelt feelings, love and respect. Today, we are experiencing the excitement, hope and joy of a new academic year together. I would like to express this sweet excitement and my pleasure of living with you at Gazi Anatolian High School, one of the most popular educational institutions in the capital Ankara with its 42-year history.
Last week, our children, who filled our primary and secondary school first grades and kindergartens with joy, started school as part of the adaptation week. Today, all our students met with their schools with the theme "Our Foundation is Unity, Our First Lesson is Brotherhood". First of all, I hope that the 2026-2027 academic year will be beneficial for our education community, especially our students and teachers.
I send my greetings to our teachers working all over Türkiye and express my gratitude to all our teachers who hold our children's hands and enlighten their path and horizons in their life journeys. Again, on this occasion, I remember with mercy and gratitude our teachers who were martyred during their duties, our teachers who lost their lives in disasters and accidents, and all our education personnel whom we sent off to eternity. May God rest their souls and grant them peace.
"A BRIGHT, BRIGHT YOUTH IS SPROUTING"
I would like to express this once with all my heart. As here today, we are fortunate to see that at the beginning of each academic year, generations with clear minds, broad horizons, knowledgeable, cultured, well-equipped and self-confident are growing up. I witness this every time we meet with our young people and children. Even though some people constantly write pessimistic scenarios, a bright and bright youth is sprouting that is truly successful, follows the world, uses technology well and tries to improve itself. Thank God, the success rate of our children is increasing every year, not only in education, but also in sports, arts, science and other fields.
"WE ARE THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED ITS PERFORMANCE IN THREE AREAS"
As was stated on the screen just now, PISA 2025 results confirmed this determination once again. According to the PISA 2025 report, in which 91 countries participated, Türkiye became the country that increased its score the most among OECD countries in the fields of science, mathematics and reading skills. Türkiye's success ranking in all three areas increased by 50 percent. We became the only country that significantly increased its performance in all three areas. In terms of equality of opportunity, the only OECD country that increased its performance among advantaged and disadvantaged student groups was Turkey. I hope the PISA results will bring good luck to our education community. I wholeheartedly congratulate all our teachers, students and parents who contributed to this successful result.
I have to say this here with regret. Unfortunately, we see that some people are trying to denigrate, belittle and trivialize this success, which should make us all happy as a nation. We leave this complex mentality, which looks at life only through political and ideological interests, alone with its own delusions. We don't care about them. Don't let them get you down, either. As the President of this country, I am proud of all our students and teachers who are our source of pride. Today, I once again kiss the forehead of each of our children, whom we see as the assurance of our future, and embrace them all with affection.
"WE ALLOCATED THE LION'S SHARE OF ALL BUDGETS WE PREPARED FOR EDUCATION"
Dear students and teachers, I want you to know that whatever we do, we do for your success. We do this so that our children can live in a more prosperous, stronger, more prestigious and developed country. We do this to pave the way for our young people's dreams. We do this so that our teachers can fully and completely transfer their knowledge and experience to their students. For this purpose, we have given special importance to education since the day we took office. We said everything starts with education. We said that if there is no education, everything else will remain incomplete and unfinished. We allocated the lion's share of all budgets we prepared to education. While the share allocated to education from the central budget was in the 4th place with 7.6 percent in 2002, it has always been in the first place for the last 24 years. We even doubled this share, reaching 15.33 percent in 2026. The number of classrooms, which was 343 thousand in 2002, has increased to 626 thousand today. Look, we have opened 30 new schools in Ankara alone in the last two years, with an investment amount of 1 billion 989 million liras. We put 544 new classrooms into service. Today, we are also carrying out their mass opening with you. I hope that our new schools will be beneficial to our city.
I would like to underline this here as well. All these investments, all our efforts are to build the Turkey of tomorrow in the best, most modern and most durable way. These are to ensure that all of our children, regardless of their income level, have equal and fair education opportunities. These are so that our teachers, who give life to education and are the heart and soul of the classroom, can fulfill their duties with peace of mind. These are for our children to receive education under better conditions, from Çankaya to Sincan, from Mamak to Keçiören, in every district of Ankara. We have mobilized every opportunity to popularize equal opportunities in education and improve the quality of education. With the free textbook project we have been carrying out since 2003, we made the books available to our children at their desks when schools opened. To date, we have brought more than 4 billion 306 million textbooks to our students. Hopefully, from now on, we will continue to strengthen Türkiye's education infrastructure together with Ankara.
"WE SHOULD NOT LOSE OUR VALUES THAT MAKE US WHO WE ARE"
Dear teachers, dear students. What distinguishes humans from other creatures is their ability to realize their own truth. The ability to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong, is a compass placed in our nature. Education is a struggle to fine-tune this compass and reveal the essence within man. The essence within a person does not change in any age. What changes is only the way we bring it to life. What changes is what we teach our children and with what method, what opportunities we equip them with, and what skills we equip our students with. I say this especially for this reason. We live in a new world where global competition is intensifying and science and technology are eliminating distances. We know that the way to progress, development and getting ahead in international competition in today's and future world is the progress made in education. We need quality education not only to be successful in this new world, but also to survive. What needs to be done for this is actually clear. First of all, our students' vision, horizons and minds will be as wide and open as possible. Our children will first know their own country and their own nation well. Not content with this, he will know our heartland well and the world well. While using technology, the internet and artificial intelligence, which are the blessings of the age, very well, they will be alert to the risks they pose. It will not be a slave to technology. Our teachers will strive to raise the students entrusted to them in the best possible way and to make them good individuals. As much as our families care about exam success, they will also care about our children being moral, respectful, and committed to national and spiritual values. I believe that when we provide these, we will both be protected from the dangers of the age we live in and stand out in global competition. Otherwise, we will either fall behind in this race or lose the values that make us who we are as a nation. Our Türkiye Century Education Model is an encompassing model that has come into being as a result of these sensitivities. At the core of our model lies the understanding that it will come from roots that combine the knowledge of the age with the deep-rooted values of this nation. In our model, we aim to raise a generation that can not only memorize information, but also use that information, think critically, solve problems, be responsible, competent and virtuous.
Our aim in this is this. Tomorrow's engineers, tomorrow's doctors, tomorrow's teachers, scientists, artists, writers, poets, politicians and bureaucrats will emerge from these ranks. It will come out of our schools like Gazi Anatolian High School. Hopefully, our youth will rule Türkiye. Our children who start school today will serve the Turkish nation. They, our youth, will shoulder the cause of the great and powerful Türkiye to which we personally devoted our lives. They will be the flagbearers of this difficult struggle, and you will do it. The real issue is that this generation has all the abilities it will need while carrying this sacred flag and fighting this holy struggle. I believe that such a generation, whose mind is kneaded with knowledge, whose heart is kneaded with our values, and whose heart is kneaded with love for the country, will be the strongest guarantee of the Turkish Century. Of course, this is also important. Making these goals a reality depends on the sincere support of our beloved teachers. I ask you to encourage our students to read, research and think more. I would like to thank all our teachers in advance for their efforts and sacrifices.
"READ, THINK, APPLY"
Dear students, my dear children. I also have some expectations from you. Even though the world is constantly changing, the formula for success has not changed for centuries. As I always say. Read, think, apply, conclude. Believe in yourself, trust your nation and your state. Never lose hope of being successful in life. Keep in mind that as long as there is faith and belief, there will be possibility. You know what the late Necip Fazıl says? A youth, a youth, a youth. “Time is mine, space is entrusted to me.” A youth in consciousness. You are the generation described by the master. I expect you to think big, set big goals, and move towards those goals without giving up or falling down.
"YOU ARE NEVER BEHIND YOUR PEER IN OTHER COUNTRIES"
Please also remember this. You are never behind your peers in other countries in terms of capacity, knowledge, talent and opportunities. I just said it. You have first-class opportunities in almost every field, teachers who love you wholeheartedly, families who value you and do not spare any sacrifices to help you raise yourself in the best possible way. At the same time, you have a great state that protects you and uses all its power for you. We have never found any of our children on the streets, regardless of their views, origins or income groups. We did not leave the mercy of the streets. You are the apple of our eye. You are the roses of our special garden. I want you to trust yourself, trust your country, and never despair, especially when looking at the fake and virtual stories spread on social media. If you believe, you will definitely succeed. If you trust yourself, I hope you will realize your dreams. As long as you work regularly and disciplined, your path and your luck will be wide open, with God's permission. For this reason, it is very important to prepare for the future, add new information to your knowledge and new ideas to your ideas, without wasting even a single day. I expect you, my children, to always keep your horizons broad, your minds open, and your curiosity alive. I believe in you, I trust you infinitely. I see Türkiye's future in the sparkle in your eyes, and I get excited.
As I conclude my words with these thoughts, I hope that the new academic year will once again be beneficial. I wish a year full of success to our students, teachers, parents and all stakeholders of our education community. I wish good luck to Ankara for the educational institutions we have opened, I greet you once again with love and respect, and I kiss the eyes of each of our children. Thank you, live long, stay healthy.
