University classes empty despite face-to-face education

While two weeks have passed since the start of hybrid education in Turkish universities that offered both face-to-face and online lectures, classes have remained empty as most students preferred to attend classes remotely, reports Hurriyet Daily News.

After the devastating earthquakes that jolted the 11 southern provinces in early February, the Higher Education Board (YÖK) announced that universities would switch to distance education. As of 3 April, nearly two months later, face-to-face education has resumed, but many students still attend classes online. In some universities, not even one student attends the classes, according to some academics.

Academic Behcet Yalin Özkara from Eskisehir Osmangazi University in the central Anatolian province stated that the attendance of classes was very low, saying: “I have 50 students; only two of them came. In the lesson for evening education, there was no one.” Stating that this low level of participation in classes is due to financial reasons, Özkara pointed out that students do not want to return from their parents’ houses to their university cities for the remaining two months to incur additional expenses such as accommodation, transportation and food.
Full report on the Hurriyet Daily News site