Supporting Education for Recovery from the Earthquake Emergency - Policy Note - Türkiye Education Global Practice

Jul 19, 2026

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Earthquakes affecting 11 provinces in Türkiye disrupted the education of over 5 million students, compounding learning losses during a broader context of COVID-19, economic contraction, and regional conflicts. The resulting education, emotional, and psychosocial impacts carry significant economic costs if not addressed through timely policy decisions. The policy note quantifies challenges, evaluates immediate steps taken by the Ministry of National Education, and proposes an emergency response system for future disasters. It also recommends a recovery roadmap spanning early childhood support, resilient reconstruction, accelerated learning catch-up, skills development, and an education management center of excellence for emergencies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

Executive Summary

Overview

Identifying the Challenges and Risks

Reflection on the Immediate Education Sector Emergency Response

Framing of Short-and Long-term Solutions

Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized POLICY NOTE | TÜRKİYE | EDUCATION GLOBAL PRACTICE Policy Note Supporting Education for Recovery from the Earthquake Emergency ASA (P180190) Executive Summary The recent earthquakes in 11 provinces in Türkiye affected the learning of more than 5 million students. The natural disasters occurred during a global economic contraction and regional conflicts just after special circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges resulted in learning losses, emotional and psychosocial damages with expensive economic consequences that is estimated at more than 3.5 percent reduction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually if not tackled carefully and in a timely manner. These challenges require policy decisions to protect the education system and the learning and skills assets given the political commitment to build back better. This report (i) quantified the challenges,(ii) evaluated the immediate steps taken since the 6th of February by the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) and proposes an emergency response system that can be deployed during future disasters and crises, and (iii) recommends a roadmap to support the education system for recovery from the earthquake emergency. The roadmap focuses on the earthquake regions and consists of (i) institutionalizing of an integrated national program targeting education and care aiming at a strong head start for 3-, 4- and 5-years old children and support to mothers and families; (ii) supporting green and resilient reconstruction to provide a learning environment for all children; (iii) establishing a learning catching up program for acceleration and support towards learning and wellbeing of vulnerable groups; (iv) securing the skills asset for improved production and economic growth with a futuristic vision towards green and technological innovations aiming at signature programs in general secondary, vocational education, professional and higher education focusing on the skilling and reskilling agendas; and finally (v) establishing a national center of excellence for education management in emergencies. 1 Overview The unprecedented natural disasters, COVID-19 pandemic, global economic contraction, and regional conflicts require Türkiye to use every policy tool to confront its effect on the education system. Türkiye experienced two major earthquakes with 7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes centered in Kahramanmaraş on the 6th 1 | P a g e POLICY NOTE | TÜRKİYE | EDUCATION GLOBAL PRACTICE of February 2023. More than 13 million people living in the 11 provinces located in the Mediterranean and South-East region of Türkiye have been terribly affected by the earthquakes.1 Türkiye needs to recover quickly, efficiently and build back better to tackle the expensive consequences of these challenges on economic growth, education, family income, unemployment and economic productivity. The learning loss due to extended school closure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and now from the disruption of schooling in the earthquake regions is likely to hamper the achievement of the national education and skills targets. On the other hand, the earthquakes affected the learning environment in the region, therefore the lack of appropriate and healthy learning environment is expected to have long-term consequences in both the education system and economy. At the same time, Türkiye has serious commitments to reach zero net carbon emission by 2053. Education is realized as a crucial driver towards sustainable and resilient development. The future of Türkiye requires transformations and programs to ensure an effective and disaster resilient education system and improve the country’s readiness and competitiveness in technological and green industries and businesses. Building on political commitment, Türkiye can adapt a framework for learning recovery and acceleration to “b

FAQs

Which scale of learning disruption is addressed in the policy note?

The note describes learning disruption affecting more than 5 million students across 11 provinces in Türkiye after the earthquakes.

What immediate response actions are evaluated?

It evaluates the Ministry of National Education’s immediate steps taken since 6 February, focusing on continuity of education provision and acceleration of learning support.

What are the core components of the proposed recovery roadmap?

The roadmap includes integrated national programs for early childhood and families, green and resilient reconstruction, learning catch-up for vulnerable groups, securing skills for economic growth, and establishing a national center of excellence for emergency education management.

Jul 19, 2026

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