24,000 free Armenian-language textbooks printed for 24 Armenian schools in Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Turkish Ministry of Education, which has been distributing textbooks free of charge to students for several years, has for the first time distributed free textbooks to Armenian students that have been translated to their native language, Today’s Zaman reported.

In a past interview, Education Minister Nimet Cubukcu said she received a letter from a teacher at an Armenian school who complained that students were not receiving free textbooks despite the economic difficulties they experienced.

“I was very surprised when I received this letter. Now we will take responsibility to publish and distribute textbooks in the Armenian language for Armenian students,” Cubukcu said at the time.

Yesilkoy Armenian Secondary School Principal Habib Ozfirinci said he was pleased that the school administration distributed free textbooks in Armenian to its students. The textbooks distributed in Armenian schools are translations of the textbooks distributed in Turkish schools.

The principal of the Private Pangalti Armenian Secondary School, Karekin S. Barsamyan said Armenian students had received free textbooks in the past but they had difficulty studying with them because they were in Turkish. “Until now, we used old textbooks in Armenian and they had become worn out. Our students were getting confused in switching between two languages,” he said.

A total of 24,000 textbooks were printed for 24 Armenian schools.