site.btaOne in Five Bulgarian Children Do Not Go to Kindergarten

Sofia, March 15 (BTA) - At a conference entitled "A Vision of Early Childhood in Bulgaria", the For Our Children Foundation concluded that there are negative trends in Bulgaria in key child welfare indicators, which show that the national policy and the institutional framework are failing to respond to the needs of families and children, particularly those from the most vulnerable groups.

The forum was held under the auspices of Ombudsman Maya Manolova.

The death rate of children under one year of age remains higher than the EU average. For the first time in 17 years it rose to 7.6 per 1,000 in 2014. Eurostat data show that 43.7 per cent of children in Bulgaria live at risk of poverty and social exclusion, the foundation's experts said. This poses risks to the early development of the children: 6.5 per cent of children under five are shorter in height and over 25 per cent are anemic.

Many children from the poorest families do not attend public kindergartens: approximately one in five children aged 3 to 6 does not go to kindergarten. The figures for Roma children are even worse: less than 40 per cent are enrolled in kindergartens in spite of their greater need of pre-schooling, the experts said.

The number of children abandoned at birth is alarmingly high and women without health insurance, as well as those from the most vulnerable social groups, often do not have access to healthcare during pregnancy.

The analysts recommend the drafting of a national strategy for early child development. The For Our Children Foundation, the Child and Space Association and the Institute for Population and Human Studies with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences have studied early child development in Bulgaria and the influence of healthcare, social and educational systems on care for children aged under seven.

The analysts also recommend the adoption of an ordinance on standards for early child development.

The package of free checkups and tests of pregnant women provided by the National Health Insurance Fund should be expanded. Other suggestions include expanding healthcare for uninsured women, regular home visits by medics to children under three, broader integrated services for children with disabilities and chronic conditions. Access to kindergartens should also be improved.

Early child development is the best investment, said deputy ministers Rossitsa Dimitrova (labour and social policy), Denitsa Sacheva (education and science) and Boyko Penkov (health care). This view was supported by UNICEF Representative for Bulgaria Maria Jesus Conde.

According to Sacheva, early child development is a motor of success both at school and in life. Thanks to the mechanisms of inter-agency cooperation, 22,000 children, one-third of today's generation of children in Bulgaria, were brought back to school.

A project for preschooling of children from poor families worth about 50 million euro is currently being drafted under Operational Programme Science and Education for Smart Growth, to be implemented in 2019-2021.