The Bulgarian school is in a crisis due to deficits, related to its funding, system of values and the building of trust. Yet another schoolyear starts with this snapshot of political scientist Ognyan Minchev, raising the everlasting question – shall we continue to sink into illiteracy, corruption and poverty, or the school will finally produce that well-educated generation with new morality which will change our destiny.

The change in the system of education swings in between two poles – on one hand it is the imitation of reforms, but in fact we have this treading on one spot, while on the other it is the sketchily adoption of other people’s experience. Ognyan Minchev says that the intellectual potential, needed for the renewal of the process of studying exists at universities, among young experts and among experts with experience, but the current selection is inadequate.

‘The problem is in the fact that the school continues to recreate methods of education, typical for previous historical epochs,’ Mr. Minchev says. ‘Of course, certain values must be kept and passed on from one generation to another, but the way of teaching should be changed. Nowadays teenagers work freely with IT devices and manipulate a huge flow of information and at the same time the manner in which their textbooks are written is so clumsy and narrow-minded that in many cases it simply causes no interest, as their way of thinking just can’t bear it.’

Over 200,000 children don’t go to school for different reasons, Minister of Education Daniel Valchev said a few days ago and proposed criminal prosecution for their parents. ‘If Roma kids are to be taken out of ghettos, I would vote for such coercion,’ Minchev comments.

‘Over the past 25 years there have been 3 – 4 generations of Roma kids, most of them totally illiterate. So, any organized attempt to be ceased this inert existence in poverty and illiteracy should receive its criticism, but one has to start somewhere. I don’t think that sanctions against parents are the only correct measure, but it could be combined with deprivation from social benefits, in case their kids don’t attend school. Of course, it’s not only about force - those kids’ attention should also be attracted somehow.’

Funding is the first major step that has to be taken in education, in order for new teachers to be attracted, Mr. Minchev says. In his words, at the moment some 2/3 of the teachers are to be retired or close to this age. The second step is investment into an educational process of good quality, linking school with the high stages of education and also with more practical activities, such as certain crafts and businesses. ‘Education should not only be declared as a priority, but it needs proper investments and monitoring over the money, making sure that the change is real,’ Ognyan Minchev goes on to say.

‘The degeneration of a society into illiterateness could be endless. That is why we, being citizens, should decide whether we are happy with the quality of education, with the values, developed by our children into their communities. So, we should clarify the common solution whether we would like to pay more attention and pay more for education, in order to see our children smarter, more educated and happier, or we will leave the situation in its current state of free falling,’ political scientist Ognyan Minchev says in conclusion.