Turkey may reopen schools on June 1: National education minister

Turkey may reopen schools on June 1 if normalization from the novel coronavirus pandemic proceeds as planned, the country's national education minister said on Wednesday.

"If the normalization process continues as expected, we would open schools on June 1," Ziya Selçuk said in a live interview with CNN Turk.

Selçuk had previously announced that a remote education would continue in Turkey via TV and online lessons until May 31 as part of measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Turkey first began remote education on March 23, with Selçuk teaching the first lesson to millions of students nationwide.

On March 13, Turkey announced that all educational facilities from primary schools to universities would be suspended so the virus could be contained in the country.

Turkey currently has 117,589 coronavirus cases, while the death toll in the country stands at 3,081, and a total of 44,040 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the virus.

The pandemic has killed more than 225,900 people worldwide and infected over 3.17 million, while at least 959,700 have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University based in the US.