site.bta"Inclusive Education in Bulgaria Works," Says Caretaker Minister Tsokov

"The fact that 12,000 children and pupils of the compulsory schooling age [6/7-16] were reintegrated into the educational system after the first term of the 2023/2024 school year is indicative that inclusive education system works," Bulgarian caretaker Education and Science Minister Galin Tsokov said here on Friday.

He spoke at a National Scientific Conference on Current Challenges and Good Practices in Inclusive Education hosted by the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv.

In Tsokov's words, financing standards for inclusive education, especially for children with special educational needs, are increased every year. The increase in the 2024 budget is 14%. "Bulgarian education targets ensuring equal high-quality access to school for every child," the Education Minister pointed out. He admitted that the system has certain statutory and practical issues. "The Child [Protection] Act and the [National] Child Strategy need to be revised so that the education system could foreground the best interest of the child," Tsokov said.

"School curricula need to be restructured towards greater adaptability at the local, municipal, even school level, to children's abilities and interests," the Minister pointed out. "The curricula should not be too difficult and complicated, and pupils should not be demotivated to study by information overload," he added.