Production force of vocational high schools will contribute to the economy

The Ministry of National Education has activated the production force of vocational high schools for the production of expensive test kits. Covid-19 antigen test kits are produced by the Bursa Mehmet Kemal Coşkunöz Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School and  Otomotiv Endüstrisi İhracatçıları Birliği Vocational and Technical Anatolia High School.

Teachers and students prepared the mould designs of antigen kits and managed to produce kits which cost one third lower than the market price and packed for use. Moreover, these schools completed the plans for mass production of antigen kits The Ministry invested funds to produce 10 million antigen kits per month.

Meanwhile, brand registration of the kit named "BRS-CA" and its approval process in the Ministry of Health still continues. It is expected that the rapid antigen test will contribute to the economy as well as making face-to-face education easier during the pandemic as PRC tests are applied to unvaccinated teachers and students who have contacts with positive cases.

"We will easily manage the process at schools"

Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer mentioned the methods many countries used in order to maintain face-to-face education and noted that production costs of required kits are very high. Stressing that the Ministry has made all required investments for the mass production of rapid antigen kits, Özer went on to say, "We are happy to see that our efforts yielded a positive outcome in a short period of time. We can get results from sample saliva within 15 minutes. Entire production and automation of the kit were designed by vocational high school teachers and students. Cost of the kit is lower than its equivalents in the market. We have managed to establish a system that will allow us to produce 10 million antigen kits per month."

There are plans to export the antigen kit technology

Minister Özer stated that the Ministry held meetings with many countries in Europe for the export of rapid Covid-19 antigen kit technology after its approval by the Ministry of Health.

"We also plan to export the kit after its approval. Many countries are allocating large budgets for the production of these antigen kits. Production force of vocational high schools will contribute to our economy," said Özer.

Pointing out that face-to-face education began on September 6 in Turkey the Minister said  the use of the newly developed antigen kits will help schools to maintain ideal health conditions and provide safety, Özer stated: "We will be able to prevent the spread of the pandemic at schools by using this test kit. We will easily manage the process at schools. On the other hand, we have made required investments in order to increase the production capacity of the rapid antigen kits. We will respond to local needs and also export these kits to other countries."