Addressing teachers, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during his speech at the Presidential Complex, "I wish that all new rights, especially 3600 additional indicators will be a blessing for teachers who will retire soon."

President Erdoğan thanked all teachers who attended his invitation and stated, "I am happy to host distinguished teachers from 81 cities of our country. You all are welcome here in the Presidential complex, home of the nation and veteran shelter. I would like to send my greetings to all teachers working both in the country and abroad."

"I would like to express my gratitude to all teachers on this meaningful day. There is no doubt that every profession is important, valuable and respectful but only a few of them touch deeply on human life like teachers do. We all remember our teachers with love and respect. We are grateful for them for teaching us with compassion and patience and guiding us," said President Erdoğan.

"We decorated every corner of our country with education institutes"

Erdoğan stressed that teachers are undertaking their profession for only its wage and "it is not possible to fulfill our duties to those who dedicated their lives to educate the future generations of the country." Stating that the government has paid a debt of gratitude to teachers in every step that it took in education for the last 19 years, Erdoğan went on to say that:

"Our priority when we came to power was to carry schools to a higher level by overcoming shortcomings in the education infrastructure. Thanks to Allah, we did it. We decorated every corner of our country with education institutions and increased the number of classrooms from 343 thousand to 601 thousand. Since 2002 untill today, we have appointed 713 thousand and 625 teachers to state schools. 73 percent of the existing teachers were appointed during our term.  In 2020, the number of students per classroom in primary education was 36 and it has decreased to 23 this year.  The number of students per classroom in secondary education decreased from 30 to 22. Teacher per student in primary education decreased from 28 to 15 and teacher per student in secondary education decreased from 18 to 13."

"Largest share of the budget is always allocated to education"

Pointing out that distribution of free textbooks prevented chaos experienced at the beginning of every school year and also saved families from spending money, Erdoğan said that the establishment of new digital libraries, sports centers, labs in every city of the country reduced differences among schools. Erdoğan noted that reforms adopted in the curriculum provided students the opportunity to elect courses freely according to their own abilities adding that, "We have lifted the coefficient implementations that limited the options of students and reinforced vocational education. We have adopted an education system that aims at encouraging children to explore their abilities. For the last 19 years, we have allocated the largest share of the budget to education. We have defined the budget of national education for the next year as 274 billion 385 million liras. This figure is equivalent to the 15,7 percent of the central administration budget. We have once more proven our belief that education is our priority as a part of our goal to carry our country to the super league. We are aiming at adding new achievements to our 19 year long successes in education. We will continue to take steps in an effort to reinforce equal opportunity in education and encourage vocational education among students."

"Preparations are ready enact a Teaching Profession Law"

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that polices that neglect human factors will not achieve their goals and this is very important especially in education as it directly interests children and the future of the country.

"We are taking all kinds of required steps to solve the problems of teachers and consider their problems as our own problems. Till now, we have achieved important improvement in the financial and social rights of teachers. In 2002, a newly appointed teacher's wage was 470 liras and as of July 2001, this wage is 5 thousand and 100 liras. We will continue to support teachers who are the architects of Turkey," said Erdoğan.

At the end of his speech, President Erdoğan gave the good news for teachers and stated, "We have completed the preparations to enact a Teaching Profession Law that will guarantee the rights of our teachers. Following the debate in the Parliament, the law will come into force and will provide additional financial and social rights to teachers."

"We will continue to work in an effort to improve the conditions and opportunities of teachers"

Meanwhile, Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer expressed his gratitude to come together with President Erdoğan and his spouse Emine Erdoğan on the occasion of Teachers' Day.

Noting that teachers have a special place in people's minds and hearts, Özer said, "Teaching has meanings that go beyond a profession and it is a bond that continues throughout human life. Teachers have the responsibility to raise the future generations of our country and provide a qualified labor force to our society."

Minister Özer thanked all teachers and added, "The pandemic once more showed that the mission of our teachers are vital for our children and for the future of our country. They have displayed extraordinary effort for maintaining the continuation of education which was interrupted during the pandemic."

Stressing that the AK Party governments supported teachers under the leadership of President Erdoğan, Minister Özer went on to say: "We have taken important steps for the improvement of working conditions of teachers. From now on, we will continue to work in an effort to improve the conditions and opportunities of teachers. I would like to thank each and every one of you for your efforts, care and patience."