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Turkey is set to expand preschool education under a program to make it compulsory nationwide by 2013, Education Minister Nimet Cubukcu said on Tuesday.
Participating in a UNESCO conference on early childhood care and education in Moscow, Cubukcu said the number of pilot cities with compulsory preschool education in Turkey increased from 32 to 57 this year, a 28-point increase nationwide from 11 percent in 2002 to 39 percent in 2010.
"That corresponds to an increase to nearly 1 million children from 200,000, which is an impressive figure. The attendance rate in pilot cities has reached 93.1 percent. We are making rapid progress," Cubukcu told reporters after the UNESCO meeting, adding that over 14,000 instructors were assigned for preschool education programs last year alone.
-reprinted from the Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review