ANKARA, Aug 13 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey will resume academic year in distance learning programmes and start face-to-face schooling gradually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Turkish minister of education said.
“Distance education will begin on Aug 31. We decided to start face-to-face education in classrooms, recommended by the Scientific Committee, on Sept 21. The committee will decide which age group will return to school and when,” Education Minister, Ziya Selcuk, said, at a press conference.
Turkey shut down primary, secondary and high schools on Mar 16, and launched a distance learning programme on Mar 23, for around 18 million students, as part of measures to curb the spread of the virus.
“If the increase continues at this rate, we may need to turn to heavy measures,” Turkish Health Minister, Fahrettin Koca, said.
Turkey confirmed 1,212 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, raising the total diagnosed cases to 244,392, Koca later tweeted.
Meanwhile, 18 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 5,891, he said.
Turkish health professionals conducted 67,237 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 5,454,988.
A total of 934 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising total recoveries to 227,089 since the outbreak, Koca added.– NNN-ANADOLU
