A change in the Regulation on Financing, Art. 52a to introduce a standard for an institution will be made this year. I understand the arguments for easing the sanction by suspending child allowances for an entire year, as we will limit them to three months. We will look for ways to purchase more school buses. We will introduce a system for assessing added value, which should not be based solely on external evaluation. These and many other things became clear from the words of the Minister of Education Krasimir Valchev during the National Meeting of the Professional Principal Community for Intercultural Education, organized by the Amalipe Center on 6-8.03.2025.
Over 150 school principals from the “Every Student Will Be a winner” network participated in this year’s meeting of the Professional Community for Intercultural Education. Minister Valchev, representatives of the Finance Directorate, the “Success for You” Project, and COIDUEM spoke with them. The meeting was attended by heads of educational institutions from 14 districts. The principals raised numerous questions that concern both work with vulnerable groups and topics relevant to all schools.
I highly appreciate the work of Amalipe and the schools in the network, Minister Valchev pointed out in his welcoming remarks. If there were several other organizations working so well in other areas of education, we would not have any problems. Your efforts, especially those of teachers and educational mediators, are already yielding serious results. For example, last year Bulgaria for the first time achieved levels of early school leavers lower than the EU average. Just a few years ago we had 13-14% early leavers, and the year before, they were 9.3% (with an EU average of 9.5%).
Schools with a concentration of vulnerable groups are often stigmatized as schools with low quality of education, due to the poorer results of the National External Assessment and State Matura Exams. But the fact is overlooked that they educate children from families with low educational status, high poverty and sometimes a lack of commitment to the education of their children. From this perspective, they achieve much higher added value. We have set out to introduce an assessment of the quality of education based on added value, explained Minister Valchev. We started this during my previous term as Minister of Education. We will do it when we introduce a fair assessment of added value. It should be based not only on the National External Assessment and State Matura Exams, but on a much broader spectrum of indicators and should track the development of the specific school. I have forbidden and will again prohibit the heads of Regional Departments of Education from comparing different schools based on the results of the National External Assessment and State Matriculation Exams.
The Minister of Education also answered some specific questions:
Will there be a change in the penalty for suspending child benefits for 12 months for 5 unexcused absences?
I understand the arguments from practice that this punishment does not lead to the expected positive effect. We will look for a way to suspend child benefits for a shorter period, so that parents have an incentive to ensure that their children go to school regularly.
During the discussion, most directors suggested that the punishment be for a maximum of 3 months.
Schools with small numbers of students increasingly have undersized classes and are underfunded. What will the Ministry of Education and Science do to solve this problem?
In addition to this issue, the chairman of Amalipe Deyan Kolev recalled that at a meeting at the Ministry of Education and Science on 01.08.2024 with directors of schools from the network, the then Minister Prof. Tsokov and Mr. Valchev proposed increasing the class standard, as well as introducing a standard for an institution in the funds for working with vulnerable groups. See more at https://amalipe.bg/mon_01-08-2024/
Minister Valchev explained that this year it is difficult to achieve an increase in the class standard, since the education budget has already been allocated and it is mainly for ensuring the increase in teacher salaries. What we can do is implement the second idea, the introduction of a standard for an institution in the funds under Art. 52a – they should be determined not only by the number of students and the vulnerability group, but also to apply a flat rate for each school and kindergarten with concentration.
Many media outlets wrote that the National Program “Optimization of the Internal Structure of the Personnel” will finance only half of the salaries due to retiring teachers. Is this true?
No, this is an incorrect interpretation of our intention. Of course, we will fully fund the salaries due, but we have introduced a slight restriction regarding unused leave. There we will refund half of the funds, and the other half will be paid by the school. This is because some directors do not use their leave, even when they are actually on vacation. I say that these are only some directors…
It is a common practice for high school students to study until grade 10, when they can apply for a driver’s license. Is it possible to raise the education requirement to grade 12? This would significantly increase the number of students enrolled in upper secondary school.
I like this idea, but we need to check whether it is in conflict with any of the European regulations. Usually, those who graduate from grade 12 are 19 years old and should already be able to have a driver’s license. I am in favor of the right and obligation to education having priority over all other rights, but we need to make sure that in this way we do not violate EU law.
During the ensuing discussion, proposals arose to at least introduce a requirement that those receiving a driver’s license must have studied in upper secondary school.
Will the salary of educational mediators under “Success for You” be increased?
To this question, the project manager Greta Gancheva explained that a mediator can work a maximum of 4 hours per day under the project. The fee of 660 leva will be increased to 740 leva as of January. Minister Valchev explained that the funds allocated by Art. 52a of the Regulation on Financing for educational mediators will also be increased. It has not yet been specified by how much these funds will be increased, but in any case they will apply to the entire year 2025.
When will new school buses be provided?
The problem is very serious, as we need at least 500 new buses. The Ministry of Education and Science has the capacity to purchase a maximum of 40-50 buses per year. An additional limitation is the EU requirement that 17% of new buses be electric. This creates additional difficulties, as electric buses are suitable for urban environments, and we need intercity buses. In addition, there are no bus charging stations in rural areas…
What will be the policy of the Ministry of Education and Science regarding segregated classes in ethnically mixed schools?
The Preschool and School Education Act, Art. 99 para. 4 prohibits the formation of segregated classes in ethnically mixed schools. The same applies to kindergartens. We are aware that such classes exist and we will react immediately to any signal. In addition, I plan to propose changes to the Preschool and School Education Act, which would accelerate inter-school desegregation, as well as the prevention of secondary segregation.
What are your plans for language integration?
In 2023, a working group for language integration was formed at the Ministry of Education and Science, which included teachers, principals, experts, NGOs, and trade unions. It plans important things that we will introduce. We are talking about different groups of children with different deficits in the literary Bulgarian language – migrants, Bulgarians returning from abroad, traditional minorities, etc. We plan to make every effort to include them in kindergarten. If this does not happen, upon entering the first grade, their language competence will be diagnosed and they will begin, first of all, with mastering the Bulgarian language – through games, interest activities, Bulgarian language classes. For some groups, this will be 800 hours, for others – 500 hours, for others – 300 hours. Our idea is for children to master the Bulgarian language to a sufficient extent so that they do not encounter problems in the learning process.
The directors raised many other issues. For example, they discussed the lack of candidates for repairs to the sports grounds and gymnasiums, due to the low amounts allocated by the Ministry of Education and Science. Minister Valchev undertook to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible. The issue of delays in payments by municipalities to schools was also raised, as well as pressure on directors by some municipal mayors. Minister Valchev explained that schools should be secondary spending authorities and municipalities do not have the right to delay payments to them, and if this happens, the Ministry of Education and Science is prepared to sanction them.
At the end of the meeting, the Rector of the University of Veliko Tarnovo, Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, explained that the university is preparing tens of thousands of future teachers, including civic and intercultural education. Prof. Dr. Mariana Mandeva also presented the student club “Reading Child”, in which students visit schools from all over the country and motivate students to read.
The forum continued on March 7 and 8, with the directors discussing their upcoming activities within the Amalipe Center network.
