euinside

Cause and Effect in European Politics and Law

The Blue coalition is against the new School Legislation

Adelina Marini, June 15, 2009

The new School Legislation, proposed a few months ago by the minister of education Daniel Valchev (from NDSV - National Movement for Stability and Progress, led by Simeon Saxecobourggotta) doesn't contain one very basic element and that is - the unified state educational requirements. For this reason and because the government last week decided to impose some of the elements in the legislation (still not approved by Parliament) via regulation, proves that there is no need of such a legislation. This is what Veselin Metodiev, an ex-minister of education in the government of Ivan Kostov (1997-2001) said in an interview for the euinside. Mr. Metodiev is also the author of the election programme of the Blue Coalition, related to the reforms in the education. The lack of these requirements, he said, could be seen right now with the results of the matriculations. As a whole the matriculations are a good start which needs to be further developed, he added. It is absolutely possible within the framework of one term the salaries of teachers to be increase significantly.

And with regard to the increase of the teachers' salaries Veselin Metodiev said that a crisis mechanism could be activated in the vicarious budgets (the budget each school manages on its own), supported by the Blue coalition, so that the money could be used, until the crisis is over, only for salaries and heating during the winter. This was possible, said Mr. Metodiev, because a lot has already been made with regard to modernisation of schools.

For the ex minister of education though, the rehabilitation of the state educational requirements and their update would solve many other problems like, for example, the problems with the publishers, the content of the text books, even the results of the matriculations and other tests.

But the Blue coalition is against free text books for all children. Veselin Metodiev said that the state should pay for the books of those children whose families are in social hardship, as there was such a tradition. And some other ideas of the Blue coalition in the field of education: thorough change of the philosophy of transition from one educational stage to another - no barriers at the entrance but severe requirements during the education; introduction of obligatory matriculation on Citizenship education - in other words every young Bulgarian that is graduating is becoming a citizen and therefore he/she should know his/her rights and obligations and that must be estimated, explained Mr. Metodiev.