Council of Higher Education: Over 88 percent of lecturers fully vaccinated

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Turkey's Council of Higher Education (YÖK) Chair Prof. Erol Özvar spoke at a meeting where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) measures and practices in the 2021-2022 school year were evaluated.

Held at the Governor's Office of İstanbul, the "Meeting for Evaluation of the Measures and Practices in the Fight Against the Outbreak in 2021-2022 School Year" was attended by İstanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya and YÖK Chair Prof. Erol Özvar as well as the rectors of the universities in İstanbul and the representatives of the relevant institutions in the city.

While the state of universities and the measures taken amid the pandemic were addressed at the meeting, YÖK Chair Prof. Özvar shared information about the vaccination rate of lecturers at universities. Özvar announced that "as of today (September 22), 88.65 percent of all lecturers within the system of higher education have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine."

Noting that the measures to be taken in classrooms and study rooms were also discussed, he listed some of these measures as follows:

Compliance with hygiene, mask and distance rules; ventilation of classrooms; cleaning of shared spaces; organization of social activities outdoors as much as possible; capacity planning in classrooms; avoidance of group work and block classes.

Underlining that "it is important for students to sit in classrooms by keeping their distance", Prof. Özvar noted that "close monitoring is important in the event that a student tests positive for the virus."

According to the YÖK Chair, "when a student's PCR tests turns out to be positive, the universities will offer the relevant guidance." (SO/SD)