The Ministry of Education and Science offers a new solution for educational mediators
The Ministry of Education and Science will make a change in the Funding Ordinance, which will allow schools and kindergardens to receive a separate resource for the appointment of mediators, social workers and other support staff. This change will happen by the end of June and this year’s budget is secured. Thus, all schools and kindergardens with a concentration of vulnerable groups will have the opportunity to keep their educational mediators or even appoint them. This was assured by representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science during a Round Table organized by the Amalipe Center on 09.06. in Veliko Tarnovo, as a side event to the Children’s Roma Festival “Open Heart”.
Educational mediators, school principals, NGOs and educational experts participated in the Round Table “Perspectives for the Sustainability of Educational Mediators”, which was held on 09.06. in the Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo. They were joined by the second secretary of the Embassy of India, Sonny Dahiya, Elena Cherneva-Markova (Deputy Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria), Sara Perin (Executive Director of the Trust for a Social Achievement), Dr. Lalo Kamenov (Director of Center for Educational Integration of Children and Students from Ethnic Minorities), Rositsa Dimitrova (Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo) and others. The event was joined online by the Minister of Education Prof. Galin Tsokov, Nataliya Mihalevska (Chief of the Cabinet of the Minister of Education), Dima Kotseva and Sonia Krastanova (Directorate of Finance of the Ministry of Education and Science).
In his welcoming words, Prof. Tsokov assured that the Ministry highly appreciates the work of the educational mediators, the assistance of the Amalipe Center and that he will create the necessary prerequisites so that not a single mediator remains without employment after 01.07. In her presentation, Sonia Krastanova (Director of the Finance Directorate) explained that the Ministry of Education and Science has taken into account the proposals made by Amalipe, other NGOs, principals and mediators and that it offers a solution that is even more sustainable than the National Program. By the end of June, the MES will make a change in the Ordinance on funding, through which a special resource will be set aside that schools and kindergartens will receive for the appointment of educational mediators and social workers. It will be aimed at schools/kindergartens with a concentration of vulnerable groups, and depending on the number of children/students in them, it will be determined how many states can be financed from the State Budget. It will also be determined annually by order of the Minister of Education what the funding will be for a state. Educational institutions will be able to spend this resource only on mediators, social workers and other support staff, which will include their pay, including additional labor remuneration. The resource will be able to be used in the current and next year, but not later. In this way, will end the vicious practice of some schools not spending, but accumulating and transferring over the years the additional funding under Art. 52a. In practice, in this way, the funds for working with vulnerable groups, which para. 3 of art. 52a allow to be spent on four types of expenses, will be divided into two streams. One will only be for paying mediators and will not be used for any other purpose.
The chairman of the Amalipe Center, Deyan Kolev, made a short presentation on the topic: “Why the National Program was not continued: arguments of the main stakeholders”. In it, he emphasized that during the public discussion of the National Programs for 2023 an unprecedentedly high number of opinions were received – 160, of which 124 referred to a request for the continuation of the NP “Support for educational mediators”. He analyzed the arguments that the Ministry of Education and Science had given as possibilities for appointing the mediators and pointed out that they are not valid for a large number of schools. For example, schools with a small number of students receive a too low amount of funds under Article 52a and cannot use them to cover even one mediator. He also indicated the following possible solutions:
- Extension of NP
- Change in the Funding Ordinance, which gives a special resource to schools and kindergartens: This should be done by the end of June and a resource should be provided
- To use the funds paid by the Ministry of Education and Science to schools at the end of March 2023 under Success Support.
- To approach each school individually so that a resource is found and no mediator is dismissed due to lack of funds: it requires efforts by the Regional management of education and the Ministry of Education and Science to find individual solutions
In any case, a clear message from the Ministry of Education and Science to schools is needed that they should not lay off any mediators from July 1, Kolev pointed out.
Silvia Nenova, principal of the school in the village of Gradets, confirmed some of the arguments in the presentation. For larger schools like mine, it will not be a problem to supplement the salaries of the mediators who will work on the “Success for you” project with another 4 hours daily, but this will be a problem for smaller schools. We have transitional balances because we receive funds under Article 52a in May, and the appointed mediators work throughout the year, and naturally the money for their salaries during the first five months of the year must be transferred. In addition, if I decide to open a new state in March, I also use a resource that was transferred from the previous year, Ms. Nenova explained.
Speeches were also made by Deputy Ombudsman Elena Cherneva-Markova, Evgenia Volen from the Trust for Social Achievement, Lalo Kamenov (director of Center for Educational Integration of Children and Students from Ethnic Minorities), Prof. Yosif Nunev (University of Veliko Tarnovo), Lili Kovacheva, principals and mediators. They emphasized the need to professionalize educational mediators by endorsing the profession “educational mediator” and making it part of the schedule of professions in education. At the same time, an opportunity for a quick transition from an educational mediator to a teacher is necessary upon completion of pedagogical education.
Summarizing the discussion, Deyan Kolev emphasized that it was completely different from a similar conversation held at the Ministry of Education and Science on April 7. Then, the Ministry only told us that the schools themselves would have to appoint the mediators without any additional commitment, and the then minister did not even come to say this personally, Kolev pointed out. Minister Tsokov was with us today, and the proposed solution is truly the best possible. I am convinced that this change is also due to the actions we have taken together in recent weeks – the signature of over 21,000 citizens, the letters initiated by Amalipe and supported by all social partners, NGOs, the National Ombudsman, the People’s Representatives from the Education Commission and science… We still have work to do, together with our partners from the Ministry of Education and Science, so that the change in the Ordinance on financing can become a fact and not allow a single mediator to remain without a job from July 1.
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