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The director of the 119th school in Sofia, Diyan Stamatov, commented on the report of the European Commission, according to which children in Bulgaria have twice the skills shortage than the European average.

"Nothing is happening in education for the last one year.

The reason is that each cabinet has a short mandate and does not have the possibility to change," said Stamatov.

He is of the opinion that students in Bulgaria are not learning the new things that their peers in Europe are learning.

According to him, the reasons are complex and one of them is the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that there is a slowdown in the rate of student dropouts.

Stamatov stated that the curriculum largely needs to be edited to make it accessible to all students.

"The conditions in the country are different.

Equal access to education is violated.

The environment in which the students are suggests more difficult accessibility," he added.

Stamatov: There should be serious targeted support for gas or solid fuel schools

The principal said efforts have been made to change teacher pay and STEM centers in schools.

"Cabinets for biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics are available in a small part of the schools," he added.

According to Diyan Stamatov, private lessons can be avoided if the student studies within the school time, if he has strong motivation and also has parental control.

Lacking any of the three factors leads to private lessons, he said.

"Good and strong competition, which leads to the need to achieve much better results, is always associated with additional training," added the director.

He believes that sufficient training is offered in schools to meet the standards of national external assessment after 7th grade and after 12th grade.

Stamatov stated that what needs to be done in education is to reduce the administrative burden on teachers, lighten the curriculum for students and create new material, good conditions.

"The lack of stable political governance leads to the inability to take long-term, serious, forward-looking decisions," he concluded.

Bulgarian education

Diyan Stamatov