site.btaDeputy Education Minister Miteva Opens National Days for Lifelong Learning

Representatives of all ages, from kindergarten children to seniors from pensioners' clubs, participate in the National Days for Lifelong Learning, which are held for the tenth consecutive year. The event was launched on Monday by Deputy Minister of Education and Science Natalia Miteva and Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Natalia Efremova, the press centre of the Ministry of Education and Science said.

"We are making efforts to impose a quality framework for early childhood development education. We are also starting a long-term transformation of curricula to be skills and competency oriented," Deputy Minister Miteva said at the opening.

Deputy Minister Efremova said that in the coming years the digital transition will affect 90% of jobs, and this will also require digital skills and training. She said the issue of skills is extremely important in the context of a dynamic labour market and the transformation of professions.

The two-day forum will also discuss building a working skills system in Bulgaria, which requires a coordinated effort of institutions and all stakeholders. An example of such coordination is the cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on the link between education and the labour market, including within the framework of the Skills Agenda project, which this year supports the Days for Lifelong Learning through the Erasmus+ programme.

At the forum, experts from the two ministries and other institutions such as the Employment Agency, the Centre for Human Resource Development and the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training, present different policies and projects for skills development and lifelong learning. Examples of successful professional realization after practical vocational training will also be presented.

On the second day of the event, representatives of employers' and trade unions' organisations will present the challenges of skills development in the workplace. European funding opportunities for vocational training and the European platform for adult learning EPALE will also be presented.