The 2022 budget negotiations started as of October 26 and are expected to conclude in December, while educators reacted to the budget amount determined in the field of education.
Anatolian Education Union Chairman Mehmet Alper Öğretici stated that the budget amount of 189 billion 10 million TL determined for the Ministry of National Education (MEB) will not bring a solution to any problem in education.
"Although the budget increases every year, the problems continue to increase," Öğretici said.
Stating that the Ministry of National Education's budget is increasing every year, he drew attention to the fact that the ratio of the increasing budget to the central budget decreases every year, "The Ministry of National Education's budget, which was 113 billion 813 million TL in 2019, 125 billion 396 million TL for 2020, 146.9 billion TL in 2021, has been determined as 189 billion 10 million for 2022. The ratio of the MEB budget to the central government budget was 12.13 percent in 2018, 11.84 percent in 2019, 11.45 percent in 2020, 10.69 percent in 2021, and 10.79 percent in 2022. Although it is seen that the MEB budget is increasing numerically every year, its ratio to the central government budget is gradually decreasing," he added.
"APPOINTMENT MUST BE MADE TO CLOSE THE GAP"
Mehmet Alper Öğretici pointed out that 80 percent of the budget determined for the Ministry of National Education goes to compulsory personnel expenditures, but even in this case, the teacher shortage is not closed and paid teachers who are paid on the basis of additional courses are preferred.
"In the last academic year, more than 70,000 paid teachers worked. While there was a shortage of more than 100,000 teachers, 20,000 teachers who were appointed in September did not close the gap. The Ministry of National Education started the 2021-2022 academic year with a teacher shortage, which is approximately 5 times more than the 20,000 teachers assigned. In order to change this table, the Ministry of National Education should plan the assignment as much as the teacher needs and ensure that a share is allocated in the budget," he said.