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The Minister of Education and Science Prof. Nikolay Denkov (center) and his deputies Prof. Konstantin Hadjiivanov, Maria Gaidarova, Prof. Genka Petrova and Vanya Stoyneva (from left to right)
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The mechanism for returning children to school started working a month earlier, the map of higher education is ready, the minister said
Continuation of the school year with maximum face-to-face training, taking all measures to reduce the risk of an epidemic wave and with care for the health of students and teachers.
Preparation of documents related to the application for European projects and programs.
Preparation of the budget for next year and the updated 3-year budget framework.
These are the three main priorities for the second consecutive term as Minister of Education of Prof. Nikolay Denkov. He announced them on Tuesday in the report on his work over the past 4 months.
Ministries of education and health have integrated their systems. Thus, at any time it is monitored what is happening with the epidemic situation in schools and additional measures at the school or individual class level can be taken as early as possible, Denkov explained. And the result should be that students learn for as long as possible at low risk for them and the teachers.
The Minister reminded that the Ministry of Health and the Regional Health Inspectorate are leading in the decision to close the school.
“Of course, we are their partners. At the moment, our concern is to see what happens in individual schools with the idea
to close
only individual
classes
or alumni if necessary due to problems, “the minister said.
The Ministry of Education and Science has analyzed in detail the experience of online training according to the results of the state matriculation exams, Denkov said. In the risk groups the risk of dropping out is higher, the data showed. Therefore, the Minister is pleased that the teams of police officers, social workers and teachers to return dropped out children to school have started working on September 16 – a month earlier than in previous years.
One of the most important tasks of the Ministry of Education in the coming months is the preparation for the implementation of the new European programs and projects for education and science. The National Recovery and Sustainability Plan alone and the Education Program provide for a total of more than BGN 3.3 billion for both areas. In order to use this money effectively, there is a lot of preliminary work – developing application guidelines, documents, evaluation procedures, etc.
“It will take months of work. We will start it, and the next regular government will most likely finish it in the spring of next year, “the minister said.
Activities under this important priority will be managed by a new Deputy Minister. This is Vanya Stoyneva – an expert on European funds and programs. She has already held the position in the Ministry of Education and Science, and most recently was Deputy Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev.
The implementation of this priority will be attended by the current Deputy Minister of Higher Education Prof. Genka Petrova, and the new Science Corresponding Member. Prof. Konstantin Hadjiivanov, until recently Deputy Chairman of BAS.
The Minister explained that there are 30 points in the report for the past 4 months. He chose to announce 7 of them, which “illustrate the pace and quality of what was done during this period.”
2 things will
determine
policies
in higher
education
in the future, the minister said in his report. The first is the national map of higher education. It is ready and gives full information about the situation in the regions and in professional areas. The second are the prepared amendments to the Higher Education Act, which introduce joint training from different universities and the so-called project doctoral students.
“The changes in the Higher Education Act have not been discussed in the National Assembly for reasons beyond our control. These changes are expected by many of our academic system, so they will be introduced again in the new parliament, I am sure they will pass with priority, “said Denkov.
In the last 4 months a methodology for selection of research universities has been created. 7 higher education institutions already have one and will be included in the recovery and sustainability plan.
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