Ministry of National Education issues 'review and remove' directive for influencer teachers: Critical warning to schools

The Ministry has sent a 10-point letter to all provinces regarding the measures to be taken within the scope of personal data protection. The letter, which states that personal data belonging to students, parents, teachers, staff, and other relevant parties are processed during the work and operations carried out in the central and provincial organizations and educational institutions, draws attention to the importance of protecting data in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK) and relevant legislation.

The letter states that personal data must be processed only in line with the requirements of duty and service, for specific and legitimate purposes, that the processed data must be limited to the transaction performed, that excessive data must not be collected, that the currency of the data must be maintained, and that necessary measures must be implemented against access by unauthorized persons.

In line with the measures to be taken within this scope, content containing personal data on websites, social media accounts, and online platforms belonging to schools, institutions, and units cannot be shared publicly.

METHODS THAT DO NOT CONTAIN PERSONAL DATA WILL BE USED

Student class lists, student numbers, Turkish ID numbers, exam lists, attendance and achievement information, health information, disciplinary information, parent information, staff contact information, as well as photos, videos, and similar content belonging to students and staff cannot be published on school and institution websites, social media accounts, or online platforms.

Lists, documents, photos, videos, announcements, and files that have been previously published on the aforementioned platforms and contain personal data will be reviewed by school or institution administrations, and content containing personal data will be removed from public access.

In cases where photo and video shooting or sharing is required within the scope of educational activities, the purpose of shooting and sharing, the environment in which the sharing will take place, the retention period, and who can access it will be determined in advance.

Sensitivity will be shown in sharing images of students, methods that do not contain personal data will be used in announcements and posts, and situations that require the processing of personal data will be evaluated within the framework of the KVKK and relevant legislation.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL PROCESS

School administrators, teachers, and relevant personnel will be encouraged to participate in the "Personal Data Protection Training Course in Educational Institutions" and "Information Security Awareness Training Course" on the Teacher Informatics Network (ÖBA) platform in order to increase awareness of personal data protection and information security.

In addition, it is required that access information such as usernames, passwords, verification codes, and similar information used to access Ministry systems should not be shared with third parties, and that unauthorized third-party software, bots, macros, automation tools, browser extensions, unauthorized integrations, data scraping or data transfer tools, and similar applications should not be used.

It is important that usernames, passwords, and verification information are not entered into such software and that no attempts are made to collect, transfer, or process bulk data from Ministry systems in an unauthorized manner.

In the event that unauthorized access, unauthorized data processing, data transfer, password sharing, or the use of unauthorized third-party software is detected in the Ministry's information systems, administrative and legal processes will be initiated.

Cases of personal data breach, unauthorized access, sending data to the wrong person, use of suspicious software, password sharing, or publication of personal data on a website must be reported to the school or institution manager and the relevant unit to which they are affiliated.