This note provides an overview of Türkiye’s digital education ecosystem, including the digital tools for system and institutional management and digital resources for teaching and learning that are publicly provided to schools and educational stakeholders. The note outlines how public responsibilities for the governance of digital education are divided and examines how Türkiye supports the equitable and effective access to and use of digital technology and data in education. This includes through practices and policies on procurement, interoperability, data privacy and regulation, and digital competencies. Finally, the note discusses how Türkiye engages in any initiatives, including with the EdTech sector, to drive innovation and research and development towards an effective digital ecosystem.
Country Digital Education Ecosystems and Governance
28. Türkiye
Abstract
Key features
In Türkiye, the ministry holds most responsibilities for providing and maintaining digital infrastructure for system and school management, as well as digital teaching and learning resources for teachers and students. Most notably, the central government operates a student information system and provides learning management systems to schools, whose use if compulsory. It also maintains a comprehensive digital education platform (EBA).
Türkiye’s last digital education strategy, published in 2018, emphasised on the provision of digital hardware infrastructure (e.g. Internet connectivity). It has sets policies that addresses the needs of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, from rural areas and in rural schools in priority.
In 2022, the ministry introduced the Teacher Information Network (ÖBA) to support the professional development of teachers and cultivate all educational stakeholders’ digital literacy.
Data protection and privacy in education is a the KVKK, a data protection law issued in 2016. This regulation also ensures that researchers and third parties can have access to data for research under specific conditions.
General policy context
Division of responsibility
In Türkiye, education is mainly managed centrally. Decisions concerning its national education system are overseen and centralised by the Ministry of National Education (MoNE). The Provincial Directorates translate the national educational strategies into the context of the Turkish provinces by setting specific targets and plans, which are then implemented by District Directorates in schools. Overarching decisions about school management, budgetary concerns and investments are the responsibility of the ministry.
Private schools, religious schools and other specialised training schools also follow the central curriculum and educational objectives of the ministry, with limited autonomy to change the curriculum or to deviate from national education strategies.
The ministry is predominantly responsible for funding compulsory primary and secondary education including all religious schools, covering costs for teacher wages, non-teaching staff, instructional materials, and other essential equipment. It thus also funds schools’ digital infrastructure. Schools can also secure additional funds from donations and contributions. Specific provincial administrations can allocate funds to projects, including digital ones. Moreover, the Parent-School Association (PSA) plays a key role in addressing school-related costs and educational expenses such as IT maintenance and updates.1 The Parent-School Association gather funds through various events and initiatives, complemented by contributions from family associations and direct donations from families or students.
The central government is thus primarily responsible for providing digital infrastructure at all levels, while municipalities may share some responsibility for public access with various means of provision and support. Digital teaching and learning resources are mainly provided under the ministry, mainly via its digital education platform called Education Information Network (Eğitim Bilişim Ağı or EBA) which operates under the General Directorate of Innovation and Education Technologies (YEĞİTEK).
Digital education strategy
Integrating digital technologies into the education system has been a priority interest for Türkiye in the last decade. In 2010, the Turkish government introduced the FATIH project, aimed at integrating digital tools into the educational landscape. The core objective of this initiative was to enhance technology-driven learning by ensuring high-speed broadband internet connections in all classrooms, installing interactive whiteboards in primary and secondary classes, and distributing tablets and computers to students from fifth grade onward. Additionally, the project aimed to equip teachers with the skills to use and create digital content.2
Türkiye's 2023 Education Vision was launched in 2018 as a strategic plan to guide the development of the nation's education system. The vision represents a comprehensive framework of goals and reforms intended to enhance the quality and reach of education in Türkiye, including an emphasis on digitalising and modernising its education system for the digital age. Specifically, the 2023 Education Vision aimed to build an ecosystem for developing digital contents and skills by establishing a National Digital Content Archive and to cultivate teachers’ and learners’ digital literacy.3 The COVID-19 pandemic, which forced most countries to shift to online learning temporarily, gave momentum to projects just as FATIH in preparing a digital education system.
In 2021, the Directorate General for Innovation and Education Technologies (YEĞİTEK) launched the Safe Schooling and Distance Education Project (SSDE) in collaboration with the World Bank, with three key pillars: (1) enhancing the digital education infrastructure, including digital platforms, (2) crafting digital strategies and generating cutting-edge educational content and (3) supporting teachers’ professional development and fostering interactions within the educational ecosystem. Funded by a USD 160 million World Bank loan, the SSDE project will complement existing initiatives like the FATIH project, and the digital education platform (EBA), Türkiye's publicly provided digital learning and teaching resources, in shaping the ministry’s technology-driven educational strategies by December 2023. Notably, the concurrent access capacity of EBA was increased approximately 25 times compared to the pre-distance education period and reached 1 million by the end of 2020. Special attention was given to students with special needs, with video content being translated into sign language and audio descriptions prepared for visually impaired students (Vidal, 2022[1]).4 Additionally, infrastructure improvements were made for the enhanced production of EBA content.5 In the past five years, the ministry has increased its expenditures to provide for computers, tablets, or mobile devices for children with special education needs (SEN), improve broadband connections, Wi-Fi, and mobile connections, and provide digital devices in schools. Specifically, the ministry focused on providing interactive whiteboards to public schools, especially focusing on distribution to rural areas.
While the 2018 digital strategy had not been updated yet, workshops were organised to prepare for the 2024-2028 education strategy. Also, recently implemented plans or strategies include aspects of digital technology in education such as the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II): Increasing Attendance and Schooling Rates in Secondary Education Project (2021-2024), a project aiming to improve teaching methods and engagement in learning to increase school attendance. The project’s methods mostly involve digital tools, such as interactive textbooks, digital question bank applications, and digital gamified workbooks.6
The public digital education infrastructure
All public digital tools and resources are provided by the Turkish government (system-level student information system, school-level learning management systems, exam administration portals). The highly centralised nature of Türkiye's education system and its centralised curriculum requires schools at all levels, whatever their status, to use the publicly provided digital tools and resources.
Digital learning resources are also provided by the ministry, mainly via the Education Information Network (EBA). In addition to the public materials produced by the government, materials are made available for free by different stakeholders such as EdTech companies, philanthropies, and publishers. This section reviews two aspects of the public digital infrastructure in Türkiye: digital tools for system and school management, and digital resources for teaching and learning.
Digital ecosystem for system and school management
Student information and learning management system.
The National Education Information System (Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı Bilgi İşlem Sistem, or MEBBİS) is a centralised, web-based administrative system that acts as a student information system in Türkiye. MEBBİS is mainly used to manage a wide array of educational data at the administrative level and is designed to track and manage information about students, teachers, educational institutions, and other educational staff within the country and overseas organisations of the ministry. It allows the ministry to monitor enrolment rates, student progress, the allocation of resources to schools, etc. Moreover, the centralised system facilitates administrative tasks such as student transfers between schools. A single sign-on (SSO), generated from the central register, can be used in different government websites and functions. This central register is essential for the ministry to effectively manage, plan, and implement education policies and strategies.
In Türkiye, e-Okul (“e-School”) is the central learning management system for schools that is used in all levels of education. E-Okul uses a web-based software to offer a digital platform for collecting, recording, analysing, reporting, controlling, monitoring, and managing various aspects of student data pertinent at the school level, such as student registration, transfer procedures, grade entries, absenteeism procedures, exam information, application processes for centrally held exams (LGS, DPY-B, etc.), document processes (appreciation, thanks, honour, etc.), weekly course programme entries, and report cards accessible digitally. The e-Okul system provides report cards, grade pass/fail, inter-school transfer, course grades and attendance records from students’ first registration in primary (or pre-primary when relevant) education until their graduation from secondary education.
Students use the platform to have access to their grades, textbooks, daily study subjects, and school schedule. Students log into e-Okul using their unique and longitudinal national identity number (T.R. Identity number), which are assigned at birth. Parents use a separate log-in platform which requires the school identity number and the student national identity number, to access and monitor their child’s academic achievements, examination results, and information about school announcements. Teachers access e-Okul to record students’ grades and attendance, and student’s overall behaviour in school, providing information in real time to the rest of the system. The system is accessible to all formal public and government-dependent private pre-primary, primary and secondary schools. Upon registration, students use e-Okul throughout their entire school journey until graduation.
Finally, e-Okul also serves as a digital credential system for students, where they can access their diplomas online via the platform. In the e-Okul system, the diploma or graduation details of individuals recorded as graduates are authenticated electronically through a web service, by signing data sharing protocols between the ministry and other ministries and public entities/organisations. Moreover, students can generate diplomas or graduation certificates with barcodes using the MEB-High School Graduation Certificate Verification service on the e-Government Gateway.
Generally, the data stored in the sub-modules of MEBBİS and e-Okul operate independently from one another. However, the data from MEBBİS's sub-modules, such as School-Institution and Personnel-Personnel affairs, is systemically integrated where needed in the e- e-Okul's sub-modules.
Administrative management and other support systems
Since 2017, the ministry provides a Document Management System (‘Dijital Yönetim Sistemi”, or DYS) to facilitate the communication of administrative texts, such as employment and resignation letters, announcements, circulars, appointments, between the central government and local provinces or public schools. As part of a broader initiative to digitalise various parts of government, the platform allows an easier and more efficient streamlining of administrative and bureaucratic processes by enabling an electronic flow of administrative documents.7 The Document Management System not only facilitates the seamless transfer of documents, but also ensures their secure storage and backup, in accordance with the determined archive rules and guidelines. The system allows archiving and management of all incoming and outgoing documents from their production to distribution, providing authorised individuals with quick and easy access to documents.
Digital ecosystem for teaching and learning
The provision of digital resources for teaching and learning is also a central responsibility in Türkiye. The Digital Education Platform (“Eğitim Bilişim Ağı” or EBA) maintains a portal serving educational content and educational materials such as interactive simulations, videos, animations, e-books, and quizzes, that both students and teachers can access. EBA stores student data and statistics, and they are linked with data from e-Okul,
EBA provides an interactive learning environment in which students can attend live lessons, engage in online discussions, receive feedback from teachers on their assignments. EBA holds about 1 060 courses accessible to both students and teachers. Also, teachers can create custom lessons, assign homework, and grade assignments in real-time, and parental access is allowed to monitor their children’s academic progress. Within the EBA platform, learning resources are categorised according to the Turkish curriculum, making it easier for teachers and students to find relevant materials. Moreover, live sessions via EBA allow teachers and students to engage in real-time interactions. Additionally, the platform offers teacher development seminars.8
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the functionalities of EBA have expanded. In 2019, an academic support system was added, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, to assist students to prepare for university admission exams. EBA’s Academic Support System (ADES) is designed for 11th and 12th graders preparing for their university entrance exam using an artificial intelligence system that tailors resources and digital content based on individual academic goals. ADES helps students to customise academic roadmaps based on the university programme they aim to enrol, providing information on required enrolment grades for those universities and specific programmes. Featuring a range of videos and a bank of over 240 000 questions, ADES allows students to organise their studies based on a smart suggestion system, which evaluates individual student’s academic performance, trial exam scores and the difficulty of questions tackled and pinpoints areas to concentrate on, and then provides relevant academic resources to achieve one’s desired goals.
Türkiye openly provides TV education through the Turkish Radio and Television Association (TRT) which broadcasts educational content on three TRT EBA TV channels. Since 2012, this represents a free online educational platform providing learning content to all levels of compulsory education (primary, lower secondary and upper secondary). During remote learning phases of the pandemic, the ministry utilised TRT-EBA TV channels to deliver educational content and digital learning materials such as videos, audio content, animations, enhanced books, and educational games for all academic levels.9 All broadcast content is available on the EBA or TRT websites, increasing accessibility of the provided learning materials.
In addition to the publicly provided resources, teachers and students also have access to free, open resources distributed by different educational stakeholders. For example, the non-profit organisation Khan Academy Türkçe, sponsored by the Foundation for Translation of Scientific and Technical Publications, provides open digital content such as video lessons that are mapped against the Turkish curriculum.10
Access, use and governance of digital technologies and data in education
Providing a public digital education infrastructure or funding to use digital resources does not necessarily mean that schools and teachers will use them. Different rules and guidelines can therefore support access to, and the use of, digital technologies in education.
Ensuring access and supporting use
Equity of access
The digital divide in Türkiye is greatly driven by its geography: rural areas in the less industrialised eastern coastal regions have lower access to high-speed internet and thus digital resources.11 Türkiye recognises inequality in access to digital tools and resources in education and responds by having their policies target students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, from rural areas and rural schools. Moreover, as a significant share of the population does not complete compulsory secondary education, the ministry started the Open Vocational High School in 2016, providing online textbooks.12
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital divide was the primary barrier to remote learning in Türkiye. According to a 2021 online survey involving 3 743 educators at all levels of education conducted by Eğitim-Sen, Türkiye’s Education and Science Workers’ Union, 71% indicated that less than half of their students attended virtual sessions due to inadequate technology infrastructure and significant problems with the Internet or device access.13 To reach students from rural areas, the ministry utilised EBA TV contents, developing courses and programmes delivered via television. Moreover, to increase student participation on the EBA platform, in collaboration with UNICEF Türkiye, the ministry established EBA Support Centres, tech-equipped hubs in schools and other support facilities that supported students without personal Internet or computer access. For remote regions, mobile versions of these centres were designed. In addition, the ministry collaborated with local telecom companies to provide free 8 GB Internet data packages. For socio-economically disadvantaged students, the ministry distributed 25 GB Internet data packages and tablets to over 664 000 students. At the end of the 2020 academic year, about 26% of students utilised the EBA platform for more than an hour per week.14 A year later, in March 2021, it had increased to 66%.15
Cultivating the digital competence of education stakeholders
The ministry is increasingly interested in improving teachers’ digital skills, although it is not a legal requirement in their pre-service or in-service training, nor is it to use digital technology in class. The previous strategy, Education strategy 2023, aimed to recruit teacher trainers who develop learning and teaching materials, as well as face-to-face in-service training programs for teachers in algorithmic thinking, and content videos and workshops for digital skills needed in digital education. The current policy priority is on improving teachers’ digital competences, so several online and onsite courses are planned for various target groups: school administrators, trainers, and teachers.
In 2022, the ministry introduced the Teacher Information Network (ÖBA) to support the professional development of educators. The platform proposed about 158 digital training programmes. About 900 000 teachers had completed at least one programme as of August 2022, in addition to various workshops, webinars and face-to-face training sessions. To support teachers’ digital competences, 40 online courses have been developed and published on ÖBA, reaching out more than 369 000 teachers as of October 2023. Through the ÖBA platform, the government provides local and central guidance by introducing different digital tools to teachers to enhance their digital skills. For example, ÖBA provides training sessions on using Pardus, a Linux version developed in Türkiye to help teachers and students become proficient with open-source software. Furthermore, there are courses for teachers on designing their own educational resources online: courses on web design using HTML and CSS allow teachers to create their own educational websites and web-based resources, and courses on 3D Modelling with Blender, a software for 3D modelling, gives teachers opportunity to develop creative learning materials for their students.16
To support teachers’ digital competences, a needs analysis has been conducted at the national level to collect evidence and identify teachers’ needs, so as to organise teacher training. The needs analysis includes 33 760 participants across the country and identifies teachers’ needs in using technology for professional development, for teaching, assessment, and for empowering learners.
In addition to the publicly provided teacher training resources, the Teacher’s Academy Foundation (ÖRAV), a non-governmental organisation, provides professional training to teachers. ÖRAV offers an online platform, E-Kampus, where teachers can access various courses for their professional development since 2015. E-Kampus currently offers some teacher courses that relate to digital education, such as the Interactive Course Design in Online Education and STEM Practices in Nature Education Training Programme.17
Governance of data and digital technologies in education
The primary legislation governing data protection in Türkiye is the Law on Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 (“Kişisel Verilerin Korunması Kanunu” or KVKK, referred to as the Data Protection Law), published in 2016. Similar to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR), the KVKK also requires privacy notices and consent forms from parents/guardians of minors when collecting data to ensure data privacy. However, unlike the GDPR that specifically indicates an age range of which parental consent is necessary, the KVKK does not specify minimum age requirements.18
Although the Turkish Data Protection Law does not specifically cover children, the Personal Data Protection Authority (TDPA), a governmental agency founded in 2017 responsible for enforcing the KVKK, has issued guidance on this subject in 2020. It highlighted the protection of children's personal data, emphasising the need for security due to children’s increasing online activity. The KVKK advises parents on ways to protect their children online and urges commercial developers to adhere to strict data protection standards when dealing with children's data, emphasising the need for parental consent in specific circumstances when processing minors' personal data, as well as raising awareness on the importance of understanding privacy notifications and the potential risks of online platforms.
Supporting innovation and research and development (R&D) in digital education
Türkiye has a central register system with rules that ensure equitable access to and use of data for various diverse education stakeholders. In general, the direct access to the central register, powered by MEBBIS, is typically restricted to authorised personnel within the ministry and its related government institutions, mainly used for administrative and bureaucratic procedures. Whether researchers can access data in MEBBIS depends on the nature of the data, the purpose of the research, and the permissions granted, under a strict screening process. Researchers should have a legitimate academic or policy-driven reason to access certain datasets. They might be able to obtain permission through formal channels, possibly requiring approval from the ministry or related governmental bodies and compliance with Turkish data protection laws.
In terms of research, some public universities have their own R‑D centre that focuses on developing digital tools. Furthermore, Türkiye has a specific funding programme directly supporting academic research on digital education and education data use. The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) has several programmes aimed at promoting science and technology in the country. The 4005 Call for Innovative Educational Practices, which is part of the TÜBİTAK's Science and Society Innovative Education Practices Support Programme, primarily focuses on supporting innovative educational activities. Under this programme, TÜBİTAK provides financial support to projects that aim to develop and implement innovative educational practices with the aim of increasing the interest and curiosity in science and technology in society and of school-aged students, introducing innovative, sustainable, and replicable educational practices, and supporting professional development of science and mathematics teachers.19
In the next five years, the ministry aims to prioritise the development of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) as well as the strengthening of its digital education platform (EBA) and of its learning management system (e-Okul). Precisely, with the expansion of the EBA functionalities and the continuous support for the Safe Schooling and Distance Education Project (SSDE), the ministry foresees the development of further versions and features for EBA and expects an increased use in schools and at home. Moreover, the ministry will continue providing interactive whiteboards and Internet access to public schools.
Notes
← 1. Report on the role of PSA in Türkiye: ED594202.pdf
← 2. Türkiye Digital Factsheet: A515573AAB05AD73C12582B1004E5B94_Digital factsheet_Turkey.pdf (europa.eu)
← 3. UNESCO Report on Türkiye Education Vision: turkey_education_vision_2023.pdf (unesco.org)
← 5. Eurydice Report : National reforms in school education (europa.eu)
← 8. MoNE publish: TURKEY MADE DIGITAL WORLD LIST WITH ITS DISTANCE EDUCATION STATISTICS (meb.gov.tr)
← 10. Khan Academy Turkish Team: Türk takımı / The Turkish Team – Khan Academy Help Center
← 11. The Geographical Digital Divide: Urban-Rural, Regional and Gender Inequalities of Digital Transformation in Turkey (istanbul.edu.tr)
← 13. Eğitim Sen. (2021). Eğitim-Sen Uzaktan Eğitime Yakından Bakıyor. Ankara: Türkiye.
← 14. ERG. (2021). Eğitim İzleme Raporu 2021: Öğrenciler ve Eğitime Erişim. Istanbul: ERG
← 16. In detail, there are examples of local and central guidance provided for teachers and schools to encourage the use of digital tools beyond OBA, but provided through OBA courses:
1. Digital Games: Courses on using digital games in education can help teachers leverage gamification and interactive learning methods.
2. AI Applications: This translates to "Artificial Intelligence Applications Course." Such courses are designed to help educators incorporate artificial intelligence concepts and applications into their teaching methods.
3. Pardus: Pardus is a Linux distribution developed in Turkey. Training sessions on using Pardus on desktops could help teachers and students become proficient with this operating system and open-source software.
4. Web Design with HTML and CSS: Courses on web design using HTML and CSS can empower teachers to create their own educational websites and web-based resources.
5. Educational Videos: Training on the use of educational videos in teaching is valuable for educators looking to enhance their digital teaching materials.
6. mBlock: mBlock is a graphical programming tool for creating interactive animations and games. Courses like this can help teachers integrate coding and AI concepts into their curriculum.
7. Raspberry Pi: Raspberry Pi is a versatile microcomputer. Training in Raspberry Pi applications can enable educators to use this technology for various educational projects.
8. 3D Modelling with Blender: Blender is a 3D modeling software. Courses like this can be valuable for teachers who want to create 3D educational resources.
These are examples of various training sessions and courses provided to teachers and schools to encourage the use of digital tools in education beyond the OBA. Such guidance can enhance the quality of teaching and provide students with more engaging and effective learning experiences.
← 17. ORAV Website: Online Training Courses | ÖRAV (orav.org.tr)