It has been necessary to issue the following statement regarding the story that appeared in daily Zaman with the headline “228 thousand classrooms needed.” 

The figures mentioned on the need of classrooms determined by our Ministry and the average student per classroom in various provinces does not reflect the actual situation. The figures created off hand at the work table by the mentioned newspaper are the latest example of the systematic operation being undertaken against the Ministry of National Education.

According to the statistics of our Ministry the number of students per classroom in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa is 37 for primary schools and 28 for secondary schools and not 56 as mentioned in the news report. The number of students per classroom in the eastern border province of Ağrı is 30 for primary schools and 37 for secondary schools and not 53 as mentioned in the story. In İstanbul this figure is 37 and 33 respectively. The average overall statistics for Turkey is 27 for primary schools and 28 for secondary schools.

The Ministry will launch legal proceedings against the newspaper which has been publishing stories full of lies and slanders for the past two years.

We respectfully bring the facts to the attention of the public

Press and Public Relations Department