site.btaDual Education to Start in Bulgaria within Swiss Model

Dual Education to Start in Bulgaria within Swiss Model

Sofia, September 16 (BTA) - This is the first time during the new school year 2015/2016 that the dual education and training system, inspired by the Swiss model, is starting in Bulgaria in two vocational schools: the Prof. Georgi Pavlov Vocational School for Food Processing Technologies in Sofia and the Ivan Hadzhienov Vocational School in Kazanlak (Southern Bulgaria), Education and Science Minister Todor Tanev told a news conference.

Dual education is introduced in Bulgaria within the project DOMINO financed by Switzerland under the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Program. It was presented on Wednesday by the Swiss State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation Mauro Dell'Ambrogio.

The students in two classes - 9th and 10th -in the "Prof. Georgi Pavlov Vocational School will be trained to become engineers for the processing of milk and the production of dairy products. The school in Kazanlak will train the students in the 9th and 11th grades in maintaining and operating machines and CNC systems. Both schools have been selected based on several criteria such as the good partnership with the relevant business, their specialization in education and the location in areas with e certain demand on a qualified labour.

Gradually, the hours in a real work environment will grow and in the 11th and 12th grade the students will spend two days a week at school, while in the other three days they will be working in factories and companies which are part of the dual educational system. The students will sign a special labor contract with the companies and receive remuneration for their work according to the Labour Code.

The project has a total budget of 3,530,000 Swiss Francs, including 15 per cent co-funding from the Ministry of Education and Science. The project will be implemented until 2019. Over these five years, the project will involve 1,200 students in 15 vocational schools, as well as ten occupations. New educational programmes will be developed, while teachers, mentors and experts on dual education will be trained.