The Turkish National Remedial Program (TNRP) to Combat the Negative Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has led unique negative consequences in education. Due to the closure of schools, educational services have been carried out through distance education in many countries. Physical restrictions and staying away from the schools have negative consequences both on the physiological and psychological attributes of the students. Therefore, international institutions such as UNESCO and OECD advise countries to reopen schools as soon as possible and implement remedial programs. Due to the school closures, all educational services have been provided by distance education for nearly a year in Turkey. After the reopening of schools as of March 2021, Ministry of National Education (MoNE) has initiated Turkish National Remedial Program (TNRP) to support the students' academic skills as a two-stage program. The first phase of the project is designed as an emergency action plan, and the students in regions with the lowest participation in distance education were prioritized. The second phase of the project is designed as a large-scale support program that will cover all students and will be implemented during the summer months. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the second stage of TNRP by taking into consideration the international criteria for remedial programs and best practices around the world. It is concluded that the second phase of TNRP is in coherence with international standards in terms of targeting all students from primary school to the end of secondary education, providing academic support with compressed content with critical outcomes, assessing the level of student achievement, prioritizing students who need special education, and making flexible programming to maximize participation.
Keywords
Covid-19, Remedial Education, Academic Support, Learning Loss, Educational Equity
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