site.btaDraft Budget for 2025 Envisions Increase in Education Funding from 4.1% to 4.8% of GDP

The draft budget for 2025 envisions an increase in education funding from 4.1% to 4.8% of the country's gross domestic product, caretaker Education and Science Minister Prof. Galin Tsokov said here on Tuesday. He added that this represents a rise of 0.7% compared to last year.

For school education, the increased funding will support raising teachers' salaries to 125% of the national average monthly wage from the previous year and boosting salaries in higher education. Funding for science is planned to be increased by BGN 7.5 million, Minister Tsokov noted.

He also addressed the possibility of extending the school year by one week, a topic he raised on Bulgarian National Television earlier in the day. Tsokov said that the extension could be achieved either by starting the school year one week earlier, before September 15, or by adding a week in July for certain grades. A third option would be to start or end the school year in stages, the Minister said, noting that sports schools begin the school year on September 1. He stressed that all this should be discussed with teachers, parents, and students.

In 2024, 25% of 520 innovative schools are already implementing their third or even fourth innovative project, Tsokov said at the opening of the first-ever national forum on innovation labs earlier on Tuesday.

Next year, six new school laboratories will develop key innovations for this country’s education system. They will focus on social-emotional learning and support, the integration of artificial intelligence into education, learning through sports and arts, education with science, and the development of digital-media literacy, Tsokov said at the forum.

The laboratories will be established in six schools across the country, located in Sofia, Plovdiv, Shumen, Varna, Burgas, and Gorna Oryahovitsa.