Proposals of Amalipe Center, NGO “World without Borders” and Association “New Way” for amendments to the Law on Preschool and School Education

Proposals

of the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe”, NGO “World without Borders” and Association “New Way”

to the Bill for amendment and supplement of the Law for the pre-school and school education, № 002-01-22, submitted by the Council of Ministers on 19.06.2020

We support the proposed Law on Amendments to the Law on Preschool and School Education, as well as the arguments with which it is substantiated! The draft law proposes timely solutions to the most acute current problems of pre-school and school education, and will support the efforts for full coverage and quality improvement.

At the same time, we believe that the proposed law can be further strengthened by:

Regarding the payment of kindergarten fees from the state budget: we welcome the planned coverage of fees for families receiving social benefits and child benefits. The inclusion of families receiving child benefits is a positive development against the background of the originally announced intention to cover benefits only for families receiving social benefits. At the same time, we believe that the problem of not attending kindergartens due to social difficulties must be solved by eliminating kindergarten fees for all children of compulsory preschool age or for all children of preschool age. Therefore, we insist that the Law provides for an exemption from the kindergarten fee for all children of compulsory preschool age at the latest from the beginning of the 2023/2024 school year to be exempt from fees.

Also, the now proposed mechanism, in which municipalities are reimbursed for fees they had to collect, discriminates against municipalities that have already abolished kindergarten fees for all children on their territory or for children in compulsory pre-school education. According to our data, currently nearly 50 municipalities have taken this step with a decision of the relevant municipal council. The law needs to provide support for these municipalities as well. Therefore, we propose that the newly created paragraph 10 to Article 283 be supplemented with a new sentence “The same act of the Council of Ministers determines support for municipalities that have abolished kindergarten fees.”

Regarding the introduction of compulsory pre-school education from the age of 4: we support this important action, which will ensure better socialization of all children and will further reduce school drop-out. We insist that this be done in full compliance with the requirements of the fourth paragraph of Article 62 of the Law.

Regarding the introduction of distance learning in an electronic environment: according to the Ministry of Education and Science, about 35 thousand children do not have suitable devices for synchronous online learning. Our study of 200 schools with a concentration of students from vulnerable groups shows that the average percentage of children without devices in them is over a quarter, and in some schools more than three quarters of children do not have such devices. This threatens the quality of education and the real coverage in these schools to be significantly lower in the case of distance learning in an electronic environment. It is necessary to provide support for the creation of a fund of free devices at each school, which will be provided to students without devices in case of need. We propose that the Law instruct the Council of Ministers or the Ministry of Education and Science to provide schools with the necessary devices to support access to distance learning in an electronic environment for all children.

Deyan Kolev, Chairman of the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe”,

Gancho Iliev, Chairman of the NGO “World without Borders”,

Spaska Petrova, New Road Association