site.btaGoal of Education System Is to Prepare Good People, Says Education Minister at Meeting with Patriarch Daniil

The education system should make children not only knowledgeable but also good people, said Minister of Education and Science Krasimir Valchev Wednesday at a meeting with His Holiness Daniil, Patriarch of Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia. They discussed the cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC), the press centre of the ministry said on Wednesday.

"We are currently preparing changes in the curricula as our goal is to strengthen the element of upbringing," Valchev explained. In his words, upbringing is in every lesson, so it should be emphasized in every curriculum, in every subject. "Along with this, we are also discussing introducing a lesson on virtues and religions," he said. Such classes exist in most European countries, and it is common practice not to mark students in them. "If this lesson becomes compulsory there will be a choice between different programmes. Those who do not want to study religion will be able to choose a class in which ethics, virtues and values will be taught to a greater extent," Minister Valchev said. According to him, this can be done in stages in different classes.

Patriarch Daniil congratulated Minister Valchev for the stated will and expressed readiness of experts from the BOC to join the discussion of future changes. He stressed that this would not only help the education system, but would also give even more knowledge to children, as well as give them a moral and ethical perspective, which is a prerequisite for reducing aggression. During the meeting, the experience gained in recent years after the introduction of an elective class on Orthodox Christianity in schools and the textbooks developed for it was also highlighted. His Holiness also stressed that this should be an educational subject through which values, history and Christian art should be taught, and only if desired should this knowledge be built upon.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Education and Science Emilia Lazarova, Head of the Minister's Office Natalia Mikhalevska, Director of the Directorate "Content of Pre-school and School Education" Evgenia Kostadinova, His Eminence Metropolitan Gavriil of Lovech, Head of the Cultural and Educational Department of the Holy Synod, the Secretary General of the Synod Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, the deans of the theological faculties at Sofia University Prof. Dr. Magdalena Legkostup and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivaylo Naydenov, Prof. Dr. Milen Zamfirov, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences for Education and Arts at Sofia University, as well as experts from the Education Department of the Holy Synod.