site.btaEducation 2015 Annual Conference Opens in Sofia

Education 2015 Annual Conference Opens in Sofia

Sofia, November 13 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Labour and
Social Policy Minister Ivailo Kalfin Friday said that there is a
 huge gap between education and labour market's requirements in
Bulgaria. He was speaking at the opening of the Education 2015
annual conference, organized by the Together in Class
Foundation, the European Commission and the World Bank in Sofia
on Friday and Saturday.

Also participating in the forum were Tibor Navracsics, European
Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, UNICEF
Representative in Bulgaria Maria Jesus Conde, Deputy Education
and Science Minister Vanya Kastreva, and the President's
Education Advisor, Roumyana Kolarova.

Kalfin noted that as a member of the Government who deals with
the labour market and social inclusion, he has a more critical
and specific view on Bulgarian education's results.
 
In his words, the efforts should be directed at those groups
which are marginalized or are progressing towards
marginalization, with the goal of returning them back to
society. There are many young people for whom education is the
"last value" and they are not interested in the opportunities
offered to them by the State; they have no ambitions for a
career and a job, Kalfin added.

He went on to say that the efforts in education should also be
focused on motivating parents to send their children to school
and, for some communities, on promoting early inclusion in the
education system from kindergarten. "No matter how much we
improve the performances of the best schools, until we break
this trend [towards marginalization] we cannot say that the
State is doing well," Kalfin said.

The Labour Minister also underscored the need of mutual
recognition of education and diplomas in Europe. The labour
market is mobile so it is normal to have a mobile education
system with opportunities for recognizing education, he said. 

European Commissioner Navracsics said that similarly to other
European countries, Bulgaria faces the challenge of giving
access to education to people from poorer strata. He said that
fifteen-year-olds from poorer families in Europe have low
results in mathematics, and 20 per cent of young Europeans have
problems with reading and writing.

It is a problem that many EU Member States invest ever less in
education: investments in education have dropped by 3.2 per cent
 since 2010, the European Commissioner said. He outlined as a
priority in the next years the investment of more money in
education because it is the best guarantee against social
exclusion.

According to Navracsics, migrants and refugees need to be
included in the European education system so as to prevent their
 marginalization. In addition to food, they need opportunities
for accommodation and education for people of all ages. Their
participation in sports and cultural events is also important,
he added.

The European Commissioner called for an increase of teachers'
prestige in society. In his words, it is important to teach
pupils how to use new media and distinguish between facts and
propaganda in the various online sources.

At the forum, the World Bank supported the Government's efforts
to give schools greater autonomy through the new Pre-School and
School Education Act. Bulgaria still faces serious challenges:
Bulgarian pupils are not improving their results in
international competitions. The downward trend in school
attendance among the Roma population, which began in 2000, still
 continues, the World Bank noted.

Victoria Levin from the World Bank said that 23 per cent of
Bulgarian employers have problems with filling unoccupied job
positions due to employees' lack of social and emotional skills.
 World Bank data show that only 38 per cent of Roma children
aged between 3 and 6 attend pre-school classes.
  
Maria Jesus Conde presented 2013 data of UNICEF in Bulgaria
showing that 1,000 children a year never enter the education
system and around 7,000 children a year drop out of school
before reaching fourth grade. This dropout is particularly
evident in fifth to eight grade, where up to 20 per cent of the
pupils dropped out in 2013.