Pardus, the national operating system developed by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) and the Turkish Academic Network and Information Center (ULAKBIM), was presented to attendees at the “International Summit on Technology, R&D, and Quality in Education,” an event organized by the Ministry of Education.
During the summit held in Istanbul from September 5th to 7th, 2024 M. Mirat Satoglu, the Director of TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM, delivered assessments in a panel discussion titled “The Impacts of Digital Transformation on Education Technology Investments in Türkiye” alongside prominent figures from the industry. Ahmet Şamil Demircan moderated the panel, which explored the innovations brought about by digitalization in education Technologies in the company of Fatih Akgül, the CIO of Huawei Enterprise, and the Vice Director General of SEBIT.
During this session, the focus was on unveiling the potential for a digital future in education and delving into the role and the future of Türkiye in technological investments.
During the panel, M. Mirat Satoğlu, Director of TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM, emphasized the significance of the “FATİH Project” as one of the most longstanding and ambitious initiatives in our country’s digital transformation. Mr. Satoğlu underlined TÜBİTAK’s extensive collaboration with the Ministry of Education, encompassing the EBA Education Portal, school internet access, diverse mobile applications, logging systems, and the touch operating system Pardus ETAP, resulting in the development of highly beneficial software products and systems.
In his statement, Mr. Satoğlu highlighted that numerous public and private organizations, including the Ministry of Education, the Presidency of Strategy and Budget, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, the Ministry of National Defense, and Ziraat Katılım Bank, have centered their digital transformation efforts around Pardus. Satoğlu further emphasized that, among public institutions, the Ministry of Education is the most extensive user of Pardus. M. Mirat Satoğlu emphasized the utilization of Pardus in interactive boards and computer classes at schools, indicating the intention to implement the Pardus ETAP 23 version across approximately 650 thousand interactive boards by the end of 2025. Mr. Satoğlu has reported that approximately 222,000 interactive boards are currently equipped with Pardus software. Furthermore, he has communicated that the LiderAhenk application, a Pardus product, has been redeveloped to cater to the Ministry of Education’s requirements for managing a computer on a large scale, serving around 650,000 units. Additionally, Mr. M. Mirat Satoğlu has highlighted that TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM is in support of the initiatives launched by the Presidency to promote the widespread adoption of open-source code software solutions across the nation.
Mr. Ahmet Şamil Demircan, Vice Director General of the Ministry of Education, the Directorate General for Innovation and Education Technologies (YEĞİTEK), underscored the ambitious goals of the Ministry of Education by announcing that Pardus operating systems will be installed on approximately 68,000 computers in all interactive boards and 3,500 newly constructed innovative classrooms.
