Turkey will not repeat the academic semester, nor will it cancel summer break

Duvar English

Turkey's schools will hold "compensatory education" during the summer, but summer break will still take place, as dictated by new legislation that the Turkish Parliament voted into effect April 15.

"'Compensatory education' is a partial and expedited compensation. A complete repetition of the academic semester or a cancellation of the summer break is out of the question," Education Minister Ziya Selçuk tweeted April 15.

TBMM’de kabul edilen “Telafi eğitimi düzenlemesi” kısmi ve hızlandırılmış bir “telafi” sürecini tanımlamaktadır. Dönemin bütün bir şekilde tekrarı veya yaz tatilinin ortadan kalkması söz konusu bile değildir. Çocuklarımızın yaz tatilini doyasıya yaşamasını ümit ediyoruz.

— Ziya Selçuk (@ziyaselcuk) April 15, 2020

The new legislation will allow teachers two months of uninterrupted break, outside of which they will be required to work.

Turkey extends remote learning for students until April 30

Schools will however be allowed to decrease teachers' time off if needed to compensate for missed time during the school year, on the condition that they still have no less than one month off.

Schools will reserve rights to assign counselors work during the summer to facilitate students' class registrations, on the condition that counselors still get at least one month off.

School administrators will use time off in turns to make sure managerial work that's leftover from the school year is completed during summer break.

Universities in Turkey to remain closed for spring term, entrance exams postponed