MÜSİAD Education Achievement Awards Ceremony
12 June 2024
Honourable …..
Dear students,
Esteemed members of the press,
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
Esteemed representatives of the business world,
Most valued members of our MÜSİAD Karadeniz Ereğli Branch,
I greet you all with respect, affection and reverence.
We are together this year for the 24th edition of the “MÜSİAD Education Achievement Awards”, which the Karadeniz Ereğli Branch of our MÜSİAD has been organizing steadily for many long years. Welcome to our ceremony, you have graced us with your presence…
Esteemed guests, dear MÜSİAD Family,
Success that comes after determined and devoted work must always be met with appreciation and rewarded. Because we as MÜSİAD state that making the best use of our time, working hard, and providing added value to our country while developing ourselves are among the foremost virtues.
What is more, as we all know, the very essence of MÜSİAD was founded upon these fine virtues.
Built on a foundation in which virtue, high morality and trust are essential, MÜSİAD is the bearer of a cause of civilization. When MÜSİAD set out in 1990 with the strength of our country's fertile lands and with the determination of sharing and of labour, it carried a dream. As time passed and through determined work, this dream turned into a reality before everyone's eyes.
For 34 years, under the roof of MÜSİAD, we have carried out many beneficial works both for our country and for our people. While carrying the strength we drew from Anatolia to the four corners of the world, we never compromised our ideals or our essence.
In this important cause of civilization that we pursue, we have stood by those who are in the right, those who labour and those who strive. Today, with God's permission, we will continue to carry this cause of civilization, which has reached every corner of Anatolia and indeed of the world, to even greater heights.
Most esteemed guests,
Before moving on to our meaningful award, I would like to say a few words about our country's economic performance…
As you are aware, the Turkish economy, which grew by %5.7 in the first quarter of 2024, has managed to record uninterrupted growth throughout the last 15 quarters, which passed in the shadow of climate change, epidemics, financial and economic shocks, and wars.
While our strong and resilient economic infrastructure came to the fore in this 15-quarter performance, this situation in fact also showed us how well qualified our human capital is.
Indeed, the unemployment rate, which fell to %8.5 as of April, indicates that the positive outlook for our country's labour market continues. Moreover, total employment reaching its highest level in history at 32.6 million also proves this.
While we are on the subject, I would like to emphasize an important point: of course, the quality of employment is just as important as its quantity. Therefore, the issue of vocational education is the foremost issue of MÜSİAD, which is devoted to Türkiye, and one that never falls off our agenda. Because, as we all know, vocational education holds a very important place in developing the talents of our young people, who will play a leading role in our country's employment and economic development.
Under today's conditions, we can see that not only the education curriculum or educators, but for quite some time now educational tools and materials as well, have been undergoing technology-based change. For this reason, there is a need for a brand-new “vocational education model” in which digitalization, artificial intelligence, new entrepreneurship models and digital literacy are also part of the equation…
This is our most important need in order to raise the quality of the human resources required by the labour market of the future, to promote inclusive and high-quality vocational education, and to enable vocational education to renew itself continuously.
Therefore, Türkiye's allocation of greater resources to vocational education is the foremost issue in terms of employment and competitiveness. More investment is needed to strengthen the equipment and technological infrastructure of vocational schools.
At this point, our priority should be to provide the infrastructure and resources for digitalization and the use of technology to become more widespread in vocational education; to encourage the use of innovative technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality in vocational education; and to support R&D work in this direction.
As MÜSİAD, we are constantly making progress with the mission of providing added value to the development of a qualified workforce, and within this framework we continue to develop sustainable projects that will expand vocational education.
Within this scope, in 2022 we enabled a total of 42 students from the motor vehicles, information technologies and electrical-electronics departments to take part in internship mobility and on-site practical training at selected MÜSİAD member companies in the cities of Vienna and Brussels.
Again in 2022, with the participation of our former Minister of National Education, Mr. Mahmut Özer, we organized the “Vocational Education and Employment Workshop” and shared its results and our recommendations with the public.
Similarly, last week we took part as a stakeholder in the “Youth Employment and Internship Fair” organized by Başakşehir Municipality and brought our member companies together with our young people.
With God's permission, we are striving to increase these efforts in the coming periods as well, strengthening both their number and their sphere of influence…
Esteemed guests, dear members of MÜSİAD,
As I said at the beginning, we as MÜSİAD emphasize that success and devoted work should always be rewarded. Because every award given encourages our students to achieve new successes and provides motivation for new and greater achievements…
This meaningful award, which our MÜSİAD Karadeniz Ereğli Branch has been presenting with great consistency since 1996 and which is being held for the 24th time this year, fulfils an extremely important function for the motivation of our students studying in high schools and equivalent schools.
The “Education Achievement Awards” were launched in 1996 by presenting awards to 9 of our students. Today, thanks be to God, many long years have passed and we are holding the 24th edition of our ceremony… The fact that a total of 1,763 of our students have received awards in the 23 programs held to date within the scope of the “Education Achievement Awards Ceremony” is also a separate source of pride for us…
We have always presented this awards ceremony of ours as an exemplary awards ceremony for our branches, and we have always regarded with appreciation this valuable award program of our Karadeniz Ereğli Branch, which has become a tradition. God willing, this important award of ours will continue on its way for many more long years in order to motivate our successful students…
Esteemed guests,
Within the scope of our 2024 Education Achievement Awards Ceremony, this year 123 of our students who graduated among the top three from a total of 41 high schools and equivalent schools — 24 affiliated with our Karadeniz Ereğli District Directorate of National Education, 8 affiliated with our Alaplı District Directorate of National Education and finally 9 affiliated with our Akçakoca District Directorate of National Education — will receive awards for the achievements they have attained.
As in previous years, our most valued participants, our dear students and the esteemed families of our students are taking part in this year's ceremony as well. I say welcome to you all once again, and I greet with respect and reverence all our friends who contributed to our awards ceremony…
May God protect you.
Mahmut Asmalı
President of MÜSİAD