Early childhood education

Education Minister Mahmut Özer has attended the inauguration ceremony of 1,500 village life centers, stating that the ministry has prioritized their projects about improving education in the country's villages.

The age of 5 will be set as the lower limit for compulsory education, while the early childhood education curriculum will be enriched, according to the 2023 Presidential Annual Program.

Within the scope of the new regulations to be made next year in education, early childhood education will also be improved.

The Education Ministry has started a new project to build 3,000 new kindergartens, Minister Mahmut Özer has announced, reiterating that its biggest priority is to increase the schooling rates in pre-school education to the average of OECD member countries.

Within the scope of a project to convert abandoned schools in villages into "life centers," where children and their parents can receive education, 1,600 such village schools have been transformed into community centers to date, the Education Ministry has announced.

Approximately 19 million students and 1.2 million teachers in primary and secondary education institutions affiliated to the Education Ministry will start the 2022-2023 academic year today.

"Many of the policies set out in the coalition agreement cannot be valued in this budget because of the short time. But we plan an update in the middle of the year that will include everything.

In a "dark red" scenario, only kindergartens with 100% vaccinated or post-sick staff will work.

Kindergarten children will not wear protective face masks, regardless of age. A child may wear a protective mask there only at the recommendation of a doctor or at the request of a parent.

Sofia Municipality announces 1891 additional vacancies in independent nurseries, kindergartens and preparatory groups in schools for which parents have the opportunity to apply for their children. This was announced by the Deputy Mayor of Sofia for Education and Culture Miroslav Borsos.

Over 70% of the staff has been vaccinated against COVID-19 in only 4% of the schools in Bulgaria. In kindergartens this share is 3%. In almost two thirds of the schools the vaccinated pedagogical and non-pedagogical specialists are less than 30%, in the kindergartens this is the situation in 75% of the teams.

Parents protested the lack of enough places in nurseries and kindergartens in Sofia.

They gathered under the windows of the Sofia Municipality and demanded that Mayor Yordanka Fandakova be held accountable. The traffic on Moskovska Street in front of the building was also blocked for a short time.