Ready to Learn Online? Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey

Abstract

This paper deals with the impact of Turkey’s shift to remote learning after being hit by the Covid-19 crisis. It focuses on Turkey’s official digital education platform, namely the Education Information Network (EBA), which is used to continue primary, secondary and high school education uninterruptedly during the lockdowns.

The paper investigates the impact of online learning by looking at the issue from the perspective of the government as well as the perspective of the stakeholders, which are directly or indirectly affected by the change from face-to-face to online learning. It asks to what extent the government could pursue an inclusive education policy during the crisis.

As for the methodology, the paper employs document analysis and qualitative interviewing. The data are gathered from official state documents and a series of semi-structured interviews which were conducted with K-12 school teachers, students and parents in Turkey in January 2021.

The paper argues that Turkey could achieve the goal of maintaining the educational services during the crisis with its existing digital infrastructure. However, it is significant to overcome the digital divide for the empowerment of the ICT-based distance learning and the achievement of an egalitarian and inclusive education.