News

On May 15 Center Amalipe held the annual meeting of the Board of Principals for Intercultural Education. It brings together over 240 school principals from all over the country working under the Every Student will be a Winner-2 Program, funded by the Trust for Social Achievement.

The meeting started with an intellectual challenge by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yosif Nunev. In his presentation "Gypsy Work in Bulgarian Education", he addressed one of the biggest problems of quality education of Roma children - the segregation. The presentation raised many questions and a lively discussion. More about educational segregation and ways to overcome it, see in Dr. Nunev's book "The Roma and the Process of Desegregation in Education", upoaded in our website in Publications section.

The participants in the meeting had the opportunity to get acquainted with the concept of the new national program "Together for Every Child" of the Ministry of Education and Science presented to them by an expert of the Ministry. They found the answers to questions that were of great interest to them, as well as learned about new developments related to school life. The Board for Intercultural Education discussed actual issues, came up with concrete proposals that addressed educational reforms, such as - a commission of principals on regulatory change; the status of unified schools; the abolition of national external evaluation; financing and introduction of the position of "educational mediator",regulated by rules; reducing the number of pupils in class; free textbooks and schoolbooks til graduating the first high school stage and others.

During the meeting, the directors had the opportunity to get acquainted with the benefits of financial education, envisioned at an early age, by referring to the FINANCEGO Project, implemented by Amalipe Center in Bulgaria.

The principals had the opportunity to share about the results achieved under the project "Every student will be a winner - 2" project realized during the school year. They shared the challenges and difficulties of teachers, pupils' emotions and communication with parents, which are one of the mandatory elements of the program. Extremely valuable for the participants was the shared experience of resolving cases of early marriages, motivating students, engaging parents, etc.

Attention was also paid to the upcoming activities under the "Every student will be a winner - 2" Program. The current Phase of the Program has a 3-year implementation period (2017-2020) funded by Trust for Social Achievement. Activities aim at increasing the motivation of Roma children for continuing education in secondary and higher schools, empowering young people at school and increasing parenting inclusion in the activities of schools.

The Trust for social achievement (TSA) is a non-governmental organization which mission is to break the vicious circle of poverty by promoting opportunities that help disadvantaged Bulgarian citizens to achieve educational and economic success. The TSA supports programs that, with their integrity, growth potential and transparency, help improve the well-being of the poorest people in Bulgaria, with a special focus on the Roma.