Minister says they will provide free meal to 2.5 million students in 2023

Turkish Education Minister Mahmut Özer has said that they will provide free meals to 2.5 million students in 2023, especially pre-school. Several teachers from primary schools have complained that some families cannot afford meals for their children amid financial problems, so they spend the day in hunger.

Thursday December 01 2022 01:54 pm

This file photo shows Education Minister Mahmut Özer

Duvar English

Turkish Education Minister Mahmut Özer on Nov. 30 said that they will provide free meals to 2.5 million students in 2023.

Özer stated that approximately 1.8 million students benefit from free lunch.

“For the past year, we have focused on increasing access to meals for pre-school education. We have provided 400,000 pre-school children with free meals so far,” Özer said in a written statement.

He further said that they will increase this number to 2.5 million and focus on pre-school students.

Eğitimin her kademesindeki öğrencilerimizi sosyal politikalarla desteklemeye devam ediyoruz.

Ücretsiz yemek hizmetinden faydalanan öğrenci sayımız 1,5 milyondan 1,8 milyona ulaştı. 2023 yılında 2,5 milyon öğrencimize ücretsiz yemek hizmeti sunacağız. pic.twitter.com/s8sfBiTh33
— Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı (@tcmeb) November 30, 2022

For the past year, several teachers, especially from primary schools, have complained that some students spend the day in hunger because families cannot afford meals amid financial problems.

In October, the government-run Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported an annual inflation rate of 85.51 percent, the highest since 1998, whereas the independent inflation group ENAG put the figure at 185.34 percent.

The majority of Turkish citizens cannot make ends meet in the face of soaring inflation and melting wages.