Tekin attended the "New EBA Promotion Program" held at the Ministry of National Education (MEB) Shura Hall.
Tekin, who started his speech by celebrating the 29 October Republic Day, stated that as a result of a difficult struggle, the Republic was declared on 29 October 1923 and the Ministry of Education was entrusted with the task of raising a youth who would preserve and defend the Republic of Turkey forever.
Expressing his gratitude to everyone, especially Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who contributed to the victory of the War of Independence and the declaration of the Republic, Tekin emphasized that if we can talk about the pride of being a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, it is thanks to the contribution of previous generations.
Tekin stated that after taking office as the Minister of National Education, they started with an infrastructure to include art in the education and training processes, and reminded that they started 3 initiatives to evaluate art and education together, especially local and artistic activities in schools.
Explaining that these are "Maarif Orchestra", "Maarif Folk Dances Group" and "Maarif Theater Group", Tekin said that "Maarif Theater Group" consists of volunteer teachers accompanied by professional theater actors.
Minister Tekin reminded that the "Maarif Theater Group" performed the theater play "Towards the Republic" on the 100th anniversary of the Republic in 2023.
Stating that they prepared the play in question, the story of the founding of the Republic, in an artistic language in the light of the data in the history curriculum, in a format that children can watch, Tekin said that the play was staged in approximately 40 provinces.
Minister Tekin underlined that they uploaded the footage of the game to EBA with a cinematographic method and recommended that teachers and parents watch the game with the students this week.
Stating that the theater plays "The Longest Night" and "Şüheda 1915", about July 15, were also staged and they uploaded them to EBA, Tekin emphasized that all of these plays were prepared by establishing a relationship with the curriculum.
Tekin stated that they will prepare a theater play about the life of Azerbaijani national poet Ahmed Javad.
Reminding that the opposition criticized the "FATİH" project the most when he took office as the Undersecretary of the Ministry of National Education, Tekin stated that the opposition political parties criticized the investments made in the use of technology in education as "garbage" and "waste".
Tekin stated that during the implementation of the "FATİH" project, they acted on the assumption that "We need to establish a mechanism where Türkiye can use digital infrastructure in education as soon as possible" and said:
"The opposition, which criticized it as 'garbage' and an 'unnecessary investment' at that time, today criticizes our deficiencies in technology literacy and the digital field, or that this should also be done. We need to be consistent. We started this work in 2011. We started this with the FATİH project in 2011, and we said that we should establish a digital infrastructure in all our schools. Because technology changes very frequently. These changes will definitely have reflections on education. Internet infrastructure in our schools, interactive whiteboards in our classrooms. "After establishing this infrastructure, what should be the main mechanism that our children can use with this infrastructure? We focused on this and designed EBA to be one of the largest educational content portals in the world."
Referring to the number of active users of EBA, Tekin said, "There are around 6 million active users. This is an issue in which we are by far the best among European countries. There is a point expressed by the OECD in its regular reports: 'Turkey is at the best point among OECD countries in terms of the preparation of the digital infrastructure for education and training'. EBA has reached this point in terms of content." he said.
Minister Tekin pointed out that at this point today, there is a different picture regarding EBA, which they have been trying to enrich since 2011.
Emphasizing that this is artificial intelligence that has seriously entered the ordinary life of the world, Tekin continued his words as follows:
"We now need to transform artificial intelligence into an infrastructure in which our children and young people can benefit from artificial intelligence and produce from artificial intelligence within the education and training processes. We would like to share with you the 'New EBA Project' that we are presenting here today, in fact, the integration of artificial intelligence with the rich EBA experience and other applications of the Ministry of National Education. In the new EBA, you will see only a part of our artificial intelligence applications. Apart from these, we have developed our Ministry Management System with an infrastructure that allows us to make rational decisions with the support of artificial intelligence from billions of data. In this sense, we have provided all our schools with an artificial intelligence-supported infrastructure that can instantly report all anomalies, from their physical positions to their geographical locations, from their academic achievements to their human resource needs.
Not only that, MEBİ has become a very useful content, especially for our brothers and sisters who are preparing for the inter-level transition exam. Likewise, DİLIM is an application that we are trying to enrich, especially these days. Language learning application currently on English and Turkish. We are trying to add Arabic and German as well. The Turkish program is very important, especially in terms of establishing the ties between our citizens abroad, our expatriate citizens and their children regarding Turkish and Turkish culture. "Similarly, it will be very useful in terms of improving the English infrastructure of our students and young people in Türkiye and supporting their learning processes."
Tekin said that the Ministry of Education has long been under attack from other units trying to exercise tutelage over it.
Minister of National Education Tekin continued as follows:
"We have always struggled with a structure that tries to sell auxiliary books and sells auxiliary books by denouncing the textbooks of the Ministry of National Education, providing private tutoring services, or wanting to sell them, while denigrating the teachers of the Ministry of National Education, denigrating the schools of the Ministry of National Education, and disregarding the efforts of our teachers. Nowadays, we are faced with the new artificial intelligence-supported applications of both MEBİ and EBA, which we have developed, and the smears of people who want to market their own products to manage perception. Do not trust them. Please."
Stating that the infrastructure of the Ministry of Education regarding the use of technology, including artificial intelligence applications, is adequately designed to maximize the academic success of children, Tekin recommended that teachers and students use the applications implemented by the Ministry.
Stating that one of the 9 literacy topics in the Turkey Century Education Model is technology literacy, Tekin said, "The digital literacy and technology literacy field in the Turkey Century Education Model was designed with a structure that will enable our children to use technology well, produce products in technology, and minimize the harm that technology will cause on our children. We attach importance to this, too." he said.
Stating that Türkiye has carried out revolutionary work in education and training processes in terms of both physical and technological infrastructure since 2002, Tekin said, "Since 2003, the most resources in the general budget have always been allocated to education. Thanks to these resources, Turkey has begun to be shown as an exemplary country in education in many titles in the international arena." he said.
