site.btaEducation Ministry and ICT Associations Sign Cooperation Agreement

Education Ministry and ICT Associations Sign Cooperation Agreement

Sofia, December 15 (BTA) - The Education and Science Ministry and associations in the ICT sector signed a cooperation agreement on Thursday. President Rosen Plevneliev attended the signing ceremony.

In his remarks at the event, the Head of State said that secondary education is at the heart of Bulgaria's future success.

He said he was proud that his term in office saw vocational secondary training take its due place as a strategic priority for Bulgaria. He recalled that a Bulgarian-Swiss project for dual education of learning through work, has created a network that broadened to include vocational schools in 16 Bulgarian towns.

The President believes that the Thursday signing of the agreement makes one more large stride on the road of the industries of the future in vocational secondary education. It will allow hundreds of high school students to train as application developers and cybersecurity experts. It will help thousands of young Bulgarians make a career in Bulgaria, secure qualified staff for businesses and enhance teachers' efforts through support from the State and the business community, said Plevneliev.

Education Minister Meglena Kuneva said that vocational education has been considered everybody's second choice for long years. The new agreement provides a framework for educators and business to pool their efforts and deal with a mismatch between education and the labour market needs, she added.

The Minister explained that thanks to the agreement students will take 2-3 years to become qualified software developers who will fill a shortfall of such specialists in the large software companies.

She added that last week she signed an order for adding "applied programmer" to the list of professions in Bulgarian vocational education - something the ICT industry has been looking forward to.