Ministry takes over Kahramanmaraş school after fatal shooting

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

A school in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, site of a deadly shooting in April, will no longer host students and will instead become the Education Ministry’s district headquarters.

On April 15, a student opened fire inside classrooms at Ayser Çalık Secondary School in the Onikişubat district, killing nine students and a teacher.

The incident sent shockwaves across the nation and sparked a heated topic of debate regarding student safety.

Following the attack, and in response to the psychological impact on students as well as appeals from parents, the Kahramanmaraş Governor’s Office temporarily shut down the school and reassigned its students to a nearby school.

With many parents reluctant to send their children back to the site, the building remained closed for the new academic year, which opened on Sept. 14.

The uncertainty surrounding its future has now been resolved, local media reported on Sept. 20.

Under a decision issued by the Kahramanmaraş Governor’s Office, the 15-classroom Ayser Çalık Secondary School building will henceforth serve as the Onikişubat District Directorate of Education Ministry.

Prior to finalizing the decision, local authorities consulted the Çalık family — who originally funded the school’s construction — and secured their consent to repurpose the property into administrative headquarters.

Preparations are currently underway to relocate the district directorate from its present location at a local kindergarten.

Meanwhile, a new school will be constructed in the same area to replace Ayser Çalık Secondary School. It remains unconfirmed whether the new facility will retain the name Ayser Çalık.

Türkiye’s nearly 18 million students and more than 1 million teachers returned to schools on Sept. 14 under heightened security measures introduced in the wake of the school shooting.