site.btaNew National Programme for Promotion of Sports, Sports Activities in Schools to Be Developed

A new National Programme for the promotion of sport and sports activities in schools will be developed, said Education Minister Galin Tsokov at a Friday meeting with Sports Minister Dimitar Iliev. The two institutions are to jointly describe the activities to be funded, with the aim of the programme becoming operational in 2024, the press centre of the Education Ministry stated.

So far, sports activities have been combined into a common programme along with the arts, while individual sports are effectively excluded from it.

"You have the experts and we have the experience in developing similar national programmes, and if we join forces I believe we will reach many more children," Tsokov pointed out to Iliev. He also expressed the readiness of the Education Ministry to support the initiatives of the Sports Ministry for activities among young people and healthy lifestyle. "Our partnership in the implementation of the projects under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, aimed at building regional, municipal and national youth centres, is also very important," Tsokov stressed.

Iliev presented the "Sport in School, After School" initiative. He argued that not only the material facilities are a problem, but also the poor connection between the school network and sports clubs. The two ministers also discussed the conduct of physical education classes at school and measures on how to better organize them.

An inter-ministerial working group will be set up between the two institutions to address these and other issues, as agreed at the meeting. The main aim will be to improve links between education and sport so that children can get many more opportunities for sport from an early age.

Deputy Education Ministers Emilia Lazarova and Natalia Miteva also took part in the meeting.