Minister of Education and Science Krassimir Valchev visited Stolipinovo

2017-09-30

In the beginning of September 2017 Minister of Education and Science Krassimir Valchev visited the intervention area of the ZOV Programme in Plovdiv. He was accompanied by the Deputy Minister Detnitsa Sacheva, the head of the Regional Governance of Education – Plovdiv Ivanka Kirkova, the Province Governor Zdravko Dimitrov as well as by experts from the ZOV Programme and various other institutions. The Minister visited “Nayden Gerov” School and “Lilia” kindergarten located in the Roma neighborhood of Stolipinovo where most of the activities of the Municipality of Plovdiv’s project, implemented under the ZOV Programme, are taking place.

Within the framework of the visit the Minister joint the mobile intervention team in Stolipinovo with the aim to include more local Roma children in the education system. The group met with a number of Roma families in an attempt to convince parents that regular school attendance is very important for the success of their children at school. In joining the mobile intervention team, the Minister showed his support for the work of social workers, teachers and experts who work to attract and retain children at school in the course of a national campaign.

According to the data provided by the Ministry of Education and Science, only in the Plovdiv province there are 13 500 children who are not attending school. This problem is particularly acute in the neighborhood of Stolipinovo and is one of the major challenges facing the local team of the ZOV Programme. In an effort to decrease the number of children dropping out of school, an educational mediator has been hired in June to work with the target group in Stolipinovo; the second educational mediator is to be employed in September. Such educational mediators work also in other five intervention areas of the ZOV Programme and the positive effect of their activities on the field is already visible. They are familiar with the problems of the target group since they themselves are part of the Roma community and therefore could easily find the right approach with the Roma parents and children. The educational mediators could become an important part of the mobile intervention teams that were set up throughout the country in an attempt to bring back the school dropouts whose number is over 200 thousand. The 6 mobile intervention teams working in Plovdiv are expected to visit 4615 addresses and talk with the families of children and young people who are not attending school.

“The occupation of the educational mediator will be included in the National Classifier of Occupations”- said in Plovdiv the minister of education and science Krassimir Valchev.

According to the ZOV Programme this was an important decision that would enable the educational mediators to work more efficiently in order to achieve sustainable results – a maximum school attendance of children from Roma community and other vulnerable groups.

More result of direction

Refurbishment of “Alen Mak” Kindergarten in village Zvezdets

2016-09-15

Since September 2016, 25 children visit the fully refurbished full-day kindergarten “Alen Mak” in village Zvezdets. The facility is a one-storey building with partial ground-level space, of total area 327 sq.m.

The building was heat-proofed, the roof was replaced and a new air- and water heating system was installed. Playgrounds were organized with up-to-date playing equipment, and the area around the kindergarten was landscaped. The kindergarten has new furniture: children's beds, sideboards, bookcases, tables, chairs and benches.

Within the frame of the project we planned to repair the kindergarten in village Zvezdets but the activities involved virtually amounted to a newbuilding, given the scope of the work involved: new roofing, new steel plate to serve as foundation of the structure, repaired heating installation. The old building that was inacceptable as a facility intended to host and educate children 5 – 6 years old was, in fact, replaced by a new modern kindergarten.

A new building for “Hristo Botev” Primary School in Burgas

2016-09-30

As of 2016/2017 school year, 90 children of 5 and 6 years old and 55 children of 7 and 8 years old will be able to attend the full-day activities organized in the newly built annexe, intended for preschool and elementary-school classes in “Hristo Botev” Primary School in Pobeda neighbourhood in Burgas. The neighbourhood has never had a kindergarten facility until now and the rooms for extracurricular activities for pupils from the first school grades have been insufficient.

The building is of total area of 870.7 sq.m. The first floor hosts classrooms and a gym, which the school has never had until now. The second floor hosts the rooms for the preparatory-school groups, a medical office and teaching-consultancy room, speech-therapist and psychologist offices and a room for work with parents.

The members of the project team visited 150 families of Roma and Turkish origin, to motivate them to send their children to school.