Turkish Education Minister Yusuf Tekin has announced plans to overhaul the country’s education curriculum, aiming to simplify lessons across all grade levels, the Diken news website reported.
The planned changes are expected to be made public in December.
Tekin said the new curriculum will avoid overloading students with unnecessary information. “We will not burden our children with information that is above their level. There will be simplification in all lessons,” he stated.
Tekin addressed reporters after a cabinet meeting, indicating that the curriculum has been under review for some time. “We have been working on curriculum changes for a long time, and we plan to share these changes with the public in December,” he said.
The minister also said the current curriculum is too heavy and covers too many topics, making it challenging for teachers to complete the syllabus. “Teachers have been complaining that they can’t cover all the topics due to limited weekly lesson hours,” Tekin added.
The focus of the changes will be on removing or simplifying repetitive topics that appear across different educational stages, from elementary to high school. “We are concentrating our efforts on simplifying or removing repetitive topics,” Tekin noted.
Tekin did not provide specific details on what subjects or topics would be affected but said that experts in each subject are working on the changes. “Once the work is completed, subject matter experts in each commission will make the necessary evaluations, and changes will be made accordingly,” he said.
The last significant change in Turkey’s education curriculum was made in 2017. Tekin indicated that since then, only minor revisions have been made, adding, “This will be a comprehensive change.”