News

At the height of summer, when the introduction of the new Act on pre-school and school education is in full force, another challenge facing schools is preparing a program for the prevention of early school leaving (according Art. 263 (1), p. 8 of APSE). In this respect, the shared experience of the schools working on the program for reducing Roma children dropout of school "Every student will be a winner," which Amalipe developed since 2010 with the support of the Foundation "America for Bulgaria" and Trust for social achievement, will be very useful.

During the past academic year 2015/2016 the program involved 177 schools across the country. Under the program, each of the participating schools adopt its school program to reduce dropout which purpose is to systematize school policies to reduce dropout by creating a favorable environment for quality education and educational integration and support each child discovering and developing his/her individual potential. The aim of the school program is to coordinate all available resources and the three main factors in educational process (students, parents and teachers) to achieve the target it set for itself. The activities are aimed also at regular school attendance, increased success of the (Roma) students, increased percentage of Roma children continuing their education in secondary schools (high schools) and having secondary education and encouraging the participation of Roma parents in school life and school governance structures.

Each school program within the "Each student will be excellent student" Program includes several basic elements

Introduction of EPA / ECA (other forms, as provided in the school) "Ethnic Folklore - Roma folklore" and other forms of intercultural education;

Activities for activating students: forming student parliament,

Activities to activate the students and work with students at risk of dropping out: introduction of the "students - mentors" practice;

Activities to engage parents: forming parent club and school parents;

Mechanisms for individual work with risk of dropping out: drafting a profile of risk of dropping out, portfolio, individual consultations. These include: Prepare a list of names of class teachers who have students at risk of dropping out for a different reason (children with difficulties in literacy, students whose parents are abroad, students in families where there are cases of early marriages, especially in some groups where there is still a high percentage of early marriages, etc.); Drawing up a personal profile of these students; Development of individual thematic plan and timetable to address the risk (designed in cooperation with student parliament and parent club)

Prepare a portfolio of these students.

Exchange visits between schools

School program to reduce dropout can be downloaded here, and more information about program activities of "Every student will be a winner" can be found on http://www.romaeducation.com/bg/ or get by writing to amalipe.edu@gmail.com, t_krumova@amalipe.com

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

Project brochure can be downloaded from here.

For more information: www.socialachievement.org