Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Council President Dr. Yusuf Ekinci expressed his satisfaction with being with the members at the last meeting of the year and told the members that different things could be discussed with the reduction of the impact of the pandemic in the coming period.

TOBB Vice President Selçuk Öztürk emphasized that they are monitoring the problems together throughout the pandemic, that the education sector is among the most affected sectors, and that they are always on the side of stakeholders as TOBB in solving problems and communicating them to the relevant Ministries.

Dr. Muammer Yıldız, General Manager of MEB Private Education Institutions, who was invited to the meeting, expressed his wishes that the schools closed by the end of the year with the increase in the number of cases would be opened as soon as possible and said that they always took into account the demands and suggestions of the sector's players. The General Manager answered questions from members.

It was decided that commissions including private schools, publishers, courses, special education and rehabilitation centers and driver's course representatives would be established within the Council, in order to determine and report, and the report the problems and solutions of the sectors to be forwarded to the TOBB Presidency and relevant institutions.

Councilors forwarded to the Ministry bureaucrats their demands that the reduction of the 8% VAT on education to 1% become continuous and that educational support be given to every parent who sends their children to private school.

In addition, members were united in the idea that 100 million books have been scrapped due to the ever-changing curriculums in recent years, causing both labor and a financial loss. In the publishing life, members who said they were in favor of the State being a rule-making and controller; emphasizing that it was right for the publishing activity to be carried out by the private sector and noted that the government should withdraw from publishing. Industry representatives also emphasized that the curriculum, which has been narrowed due to the pandemic, will have different outcomes in children's next 4 years of education.