site.btaExperts Set Up National Movement in Defence of Education

104 CULTURE - EDUCATION - NATIONAL MOVEMENT

Experts Set Up
National Movement in
Defence of Education


Sofia, September 13 (BTA) - More than 280 experts in education and culture established a National Movement in Defence of Education on September 11.

The National Movement, mottoed "Stop the Mess in Education", sets itself objectives including monitoring of the transparency and publicity of education policies at the regional, municipal and school levels, cultivating public intolerance of cartels in education, forming pressure groups for the adoption of particular decisions.

The Movement's National Coordinator Peter Zarev pointed out that if they have sufficient information and if the educational institutions fail to respond to problems in education, the organization will alert the prosecution service. "We have already submitted the first alert to the prosecuting magistracy about a rigged competition at the National Institute for Education and Qualification under the Ministry of Education and Science in Bankya," Zarev said. In his words, if there is evidence of unaddressed violations of the law, the Movement is planning unconventional protest actions.

The Coordinator stressed that the Movement was set up on a voluntary basis, will not vie for a share in projects, and will not seek financing. It distances itself from all partisan action and enlists everybody wishing to work for solving the problems in education: children's ever poorer performance at school, a rising drop-out rate, and young people's diminishing competitiveness in the labour market. LI/LG