site.btaEducation and Science Ministry Has Implemented Four Priorities - Report

Education and Science Ministry Has Implemented Four Priorities - Report

Sofia, May 2 (BTA) - The caretaker team at the Education and Science Ministry has implemented the four key priorities set at the start of the cabinet's term, Minister Nikolai Denkov told his final news conference on Tuesday.

He said the efforts in secondary education focused on the preparation of the matriculation exams, the national external assessment, and the exams after completed primary education. The groundwork was laid for the matriculation exams after Grades 7 and 8. This is also the first time all Grade 10 students will have external assessment of their computer literacy. 

A schedule of activities for providing free textbooks and learning aids was prepared, said Deputy Education Minister Maria Gaidarova. An assessment and approval procedure was opened for draft textbooks for Grades 3, 7 and 9 and for foreign language textbooks. The Ministry approved a list of study materials for Grade 1 and Grade 5 textbooks.

Overall, 113,400 teachers and non-teaching staff received the pay rise agreed under an annex to the collective agreement.

The Ministry also drafted two government decrees adding kindergartens to the system of protected and hub schools. An ordinance on the standards for early children's development was drawn up. One hundred and seventy programmes of 30 educational organizations were approved.

To address increasingly frequent acts of aggression, the Ministry drafted an interinstitutional plan for its prevention and for enhancing safety at school.

The Ministry drafted, and the cabinet approved, eleven national programmes for the kindergartens and schools. A National Programme for Pre-school Education and another one for IT training were financed for the first time.

As to tertiary education, the Ministry drew up amendments to the Academic Staff Development Act. The terms and procedures for detecting scientific plagiarism were spelled out for the first time.

University admissions were linked more closely with labour demand. Subsidized admissions in disciplines whose graduates are in very low demand were reduced, said Denkov.

Implementing another priority, the Education and Science Ministry prepared an updated version of the National Strategy for Research Development, which is required for Operational Programme (OP) Science and Education for Smart Growth and OP Innovations and Competitiveness.

OP Science and Education for Smart Growth was the fourth priority, Denkov said. The Ministry received a preliminary report from the European Commission (EC) following an audit of the education priority axes. Six of its 14 findings were critical. The EC also warned about a freeze on interim payments for education projects, Denkov recalled. The Ministry promptly started negotiating with EC representatives and drew up a plan of 14 measures. In the course of the negotiations, the Education Ministry managed to minimize the risk of a loss of funding under the programme. As a result, the financial correction will be a percentage of 42,630,000 leva, not of 340 million leva - the entire amount agreed for the education priority axes so far.

The Education Ministry called off a public procurement procedure for the selection,  through an intermediary, of evaluators of projects for establishing centres of excellence and centres of competence because the requirements were too low and the offers failed to meet them. Instead, independent international evaluators were selected through competitive bidding announced by the Council of Ministers. Contracts with them will be signed by the end of May.