Bulgaria

The educational system in Bulgaria has faced rapid change in the months since the report on Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma appeared, and they pose a serious challenge to efforts to implement its recommendations. A new budgeting system offers both opportunities and perils, which many of the actors who will carry out the reform are not sufficiently aware of. With that in mind, the Bulgarian partner organisations are undertaking a number of separate advocacy activities.

Project Title:
Bulgaria’s education reform and the promotion of integrated schools

Project description:

The educational system in Bulgaria has faced rapid change in the months since the Bulgaria country report on Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma appeared. A new Public Education Act in the making, as well as major changes in the state funding of education being implemented this year, mean the stakes are high. If no measures are taken, the quality of education, especially for Roma children, will be seriously affected. The Bulgarian organizations that were involved in the monitoring have therefore quickly initiated follow-up advocacy activities.

Background

In early 2008 a new education reform was adopted in Bulgaria, which changed the way in which schools are financed. The reform introduced so-called "delegated budgets". The funding of each school will be calculated on the basis of the number of students it has. This offers both perils and opportunities.

The new financing structure will make schools themselves responsible for the use of most of this delegated budget. They will have 80 percent of the budget at their own disposal. The other 20 percent will be allocated by the mayors, who can also choose to leave that share up to the schools themselves as well. Efforts to ensure that the reform is implemented in a way that encourages integration will therefore have to directly address school administrators and mayors.

The education reform has the potential to have a positive impact on the integration of minorities in Bulgaria’s education system. Overcrowded city schools will benefit from the delegated budgets. For example, the mammoth school in Fakulteta, the largest Roma settlement in Sofia, now offers subpar quality education, and all further growth exacerbates the problems. But because of its size, the reform would instantly make it the best-funded school of the country.

Problems, however, are posed by the low level of the “unified expense standard” determining the funding, the unpreparedness of many schools, and the lack of mechanisms to guarantee the educational quality and support the most vulnerable schools. There are also several specific risks:

• The delegated budgets are expected to bankrupt hundreds of smaller schools, leaving them dependent on ad hoc financial support by municipalities. This will have direct consequences for Roma children and families living in isolated areas, and could negatively affect school attendance.
• The delegated budgets risk encouraging segregation. Special schools will qualify for double the amount of money per student mainstream schools receive. This might encourage the already widespread practice of shunting Roma children into special schools,, regardless of their capacities.
• Intercultural education initiatives, such as Roma language, folklore and culture classes, are put at risk by the new system. Up to now they were financed by the municipalities. Since the schools now will be allocating at least 80% of their budget themselves, the school principal will have to decide whether to spend money on, for example, Roma teaching assistance or paying for utilities.
• The regulation for the delegated budget allows up to 20 percent of the money to be allocated to schools on the basis of "additional" criteria, one of which is work with minority children. There is a risk that these funds will be used to support segregated schools, and not the mixed schools which better foster integration in education.

Advocacy activities

The follow-up project includes a number of activities addressed at raising awareness about both the opportunities and the risks which the reform presents. The project intends ultimately to contribute to the best use of the delegated budgets in view of stronger social cohesion within the country.

A series of meetings with stakeholders will be organized in view of ensuring that the reform will be implemented in a way that ensures integration rather than segregation. Events will include:

• A series of meetings with the National Association of Municipalities, as well as a workshop with the members of its education committee; A three-day workshop and meeting with the Regional Inspectorates for Education;
• A number of working meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Education (in view of the possible establishment of a National program for supporting intercultural education);
• Six one-day meetings with school principals in the six planning regions (Veliko Turnovo; Shumen; Burgas; Montana; Sofia; Plovdiv);
• A meeting with local and national NGOs involved in Roma education.

In addition, several case studies are carried out to see how different types of schools are affected by the changes. These case studies will be presented to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance.