Turkey may cancel autumn break: Ministry of Education prepares academic year reform

National Education Minister Yusuf Tekin announced possible changes to the school calendar: Turkey may cancel autumn break starting as early as the next academic year.

According to him, a model is being considered where the academic year begins later in September and ends earlier in June. This would allow for the redistribution of breaks and an increase in the duration of summer holidays without an actual increase in the academic workload.

The Minister specified that midterm breaks could be integrated into the summer period. "Education will not become longer — we are only changing the schedule," he emphasized.

In addition to the calendar reform, authorities plan to strengthen security measures in schools. This decision is being discussed following recent tragic incidents — attacks in educational institutions in the provinces of Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş, where people were killed and dozens injured.

Tekin noted that placing police in schools remains a temporary measure. Instead, the ministry is considering the creation of a specialized corps of security personnel who have undergone specialized training. At the same time, he emphasized that the presence of armed guards does not guarantee the prevention of such incidents.

The security reform will be built on three pillars: violence prevention (including psychological support and reducing digital addiction), improving school infrastructure (cameras, fences, entrance zones), and prioritizing educational institutions by risk level. Currently, over a thousand schools in the country are under 24-hour guard.

The minister also allowed for the possibility of revising the duration of compulsory education, which is currently 12 years, noting the need to discuss this issue in light of international experience.

Amid the reforms, the issue of education costs has also arisen: according to the ministry, there are already 82 private schools in the country with fees exceeding 1 million Turkish Liras, although Tekin assured that price increases would be limited by the inflation rate.

The upcoming changes could significantly affect both the education system and the daily lives of millions of students and their families.