site.btaBTA Provides 58 Children of Employees with Total of BGN 50,400 for First, Eighth Grade Expenses over Past Five Years

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) has provided 58 children of Agency employees in first and eighth grade with BGN 50,400 in support over the past five years, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev announced at the National Press Club in Sofia on Monday.

"We introduced this with the Collective Labor Agreement, together with the trade unions at the Agency. Since its introduction, 58 parents, or 58 students, have been supported with a total of BGN 50,400. This year, BGN 8,100 has been allocated for nine students, six of whom are in first grade. The assistance is three times the amount that the State is required to provide by law, i.e., BGN 900, which was calculated with the help of our Economics Department. This is roughly the amount needed for a first-grader or a new high school student to start school normally," Valkov explained on September 15, the day Bulgarian children return to school.

In 2021 and 2022, BGN 600 were paid, and from 2023 to date, BGN 900 have been paid. Of the children of BTA employees who received support, 32 entered school for the first time, and 26 are in eighth grade.

The Agency's Collective Labor Agreement stipulates that the employer is obliged to provide an amount three times the amount of the one-time assistance provided by the regulations for students enrolled in first and eighth grade in the respective school year. In both cases, the amount is paid with the August salary of the respective year when the child starts first or eighth grade. If both parents work at BTA, the amount is paid as a one-off payment to the bank account of one of them.