site.btaInternational Project between Bulgaria, Portugal Established to Help Improve Quality of Early Childhood Care, Education

An international project, which is to be implemented in Bulgaria and Portugal, will help improve the care and quality of early childhood education, said Minister of Education and Science Prof. Galin Tsokov at a meeting dedicated to the project launch on Tuesday.

''We have already developed a National Framework for the Quality of Early Childhood Education and Care, and the project will build on this by providing the opportunity for the introduction of quality indicators in institutions and comprehensive monitoring,'' Tsokov explained.

The Ministry of Education and Science is working together with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy to ensure that children are not only healthy and fully developed, but also successful by learning life skills. Tsokov expressed his hope that the education system can build on the latter later on.

The project is funded by the European Union through the Technical Assistance Facility, and implementation will be carried out by UNICEF in partnership with the European Commission, Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support. It is for a period of 2 years and will facilitate the mutual exchange of expertise and good practices in Bulgaria and Portugal to achieve the objectives of the Council Recommendation on the establishment of a European Child Guarantee to prevent and combat poverty and social exclusion. The management of the project for Bulgaria is carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Ministry of Health. For Portugal, leadership is provided by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, and the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security.