by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- As schools are closed due to the lockdown to combat the raging COVID-19 pandemic, Turkey is making great efforts to keep education alive by offering classes for 18 million students via the Internet and TV channels.

As students worldwide were deprived of traditional face-to-face education due to the virus, Turkey became the second country after China that has introduced nationwide virtual education to help the students to continue their studies, Turkish Education Minister Ziya Selcuk told the Sabah daily newspaper.

Turkey has 18 million students who started online education three weeks ago when Turkey implemented strict anti-coronavirus restrictions.

Turkish students can access 1,600 lessons, as well as more than 20,000 interactive types of content, through the nation's Education Information Network (EBA) and public broadcaster TRT (Turkish Radio and Television) .

Selcuk insisted that online education is at the essence of public service guaranteeing "equality," as the students, whether from the developed cities or from the underdeveloped rural areas, can access the same education resources.

"They can receive the same education without socio-economic obstacles. We provide equal standards for students and teachers in all parts of Turkey," the minister said.

Despite some initial snags acknowledged by the authorities regarding the content, the remote education is going smoothly and is planned to continue at least until April 30.

Some private and public universities have also switched to e-education for their students, while exams have been postponed to June for higher education institutions.

Education specialists have generally lauded public and private institutions' efforts to make remote education possible.

"It was something very new for us, especially for the teachers who are not used to giving lessons in front of a camera, but we did our best and the reactions are positive from both parents and students," Zeynep Taskin Akinci, a staff from an Ankara-based private middle school, told Xinhua.

The school she works for also offers online classes, where lecturers and students can see each other via interactive classes such as mathematics, geography, history, Turkish, English and even dancing, she explained.

"It was hard for us at the start, but parents are quite happy to see that their children are actually having live contacts with teachers. It's something that is boosting the moral and motivation of both teachers and parents in confinement," Akinci said.

The EBA platform offers school books, interactive books, applications and tests, as well as videos with interactive content, researches, summaries and info graphics. At least 5,000 books and 240,000 questions are available for the teachers to use on the system, the ministry said.

Abbas Guclu, a journalist specialized in education, said that the coronavirus pandemic has showed Turkish education authorities that the largely criticized rat-race exam system adopted three decades ago in the country of 83 million people is flawed.

"We have to make less exams and teach more science to our students, this pandemic has demonstrated how much we need scientists and doctors and how a good education is vital," he wrote on his blog.

While millions of Turkish students benefit from the remote education, refugee activists have said that many refugee children still do not have proper technological devices to access the system.

Turkey is hosting the world's biggest refugee community of 3.6 million Syrians and around 400,000 Iraqis, Afghans and Iranians. Enditem

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