Over 19 million primary, secondary and high school students have resumed as the 2022-23 academic year officially began in Turkey on Monday.
Schools left the COVID-19 pandemic behind and welcomed pupils without facemasks for the first time in over two years.
A total of 1.2 million teachers, including 20,000 who joined the education system earlier this year also resumed school.
Aside primary and secondary students, preschoolers and first graders were also present after attending an orientation program from Sept. 5-9.
To mark the beginning of the academic year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited a school in Istanbul and met the students and teachers.
He said; "When we took office 20 years ago, we set the first of the four pillars on which we would raise the country as education, health, safety and justice.
"We never compromised on our priority in education, no matter what the conditions were."
The government has heavily invested in education, approving a budget of over TL 3.1 billion ($169.93 million) for schools across the country to prepare for the new education year.
It is also transforming disused school buildings in remote villages for the local community.
As part of the project, vacant school buildings will be repurposed as social learning centers, known as "Village Wellness Centers."
So far it has transformed approximately 800 schools and aims to raise that number to 6,970 by the end of the year.
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