All vocational education in Bulgaria must become a dual form of education to be real – high school students must work in the field to leave school ready for their lives. Experts and representatives of municipalities from the Stara Zagora region, vocational high schools, the educational inspectorate and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry united yesterday around this conclusion. The regional information meeting-consultation for the preparation of the DOMINO 2 program for dual training under the Swiss-Bulgarian cooperation program was held in the Regional Administration – Stara Zagora.
The representative of Stara Zagora Municipality at the meeting was Mrs. Vanya Tosheva, senior expert in the “Education and Youth Activities” department. She was introduced to all aspects of the DOMINO 2 program, whose implementation period is from 2024 to 2028.
Stara Zagora Region is the first in which dual education practically started and this happened back in 2015. The total number of participating classes so far is 54, currently there are 35, but the bad news is that for the next school year, which starts in the fall , only two classes will remain.
The directors of two of the vocational high schools in Stara Zagora, present at the regional information meeting, admitted that the weak link in the chain are the children and rather their absent parents. The majority of them work abroad, and their high school children are being raised by elderly grandparents.
Young people have a hard time learning to work, they are stressed by the regime, by the need to prove themselves as responsible, to give explanations when they are absent, coming from a liberal environment such as the educational one, pointed out Tanya Radkova, “Progress” JSC. The company is among the employer partners of the vocational high schools in Stara Zagora, which provide employment opportunities. It is good to strengthen the role of parents, for the entire period during which dual training is conducted at Progress, only two parents have come to see how and under what conditions their children will work, Tanya Radkova pointed out.
The experience of conducting dual training in Bulgaria since 2015 proves the need for more active involvement of all interested parties at the national, regional and local level, which will be supported by Activities under the DOMINO 2 program. This thesis was also expressed by Vasil Radoinovski, head of the secretariat of the Bulgarian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce.
Dual education in the 11th and 12th grades will be maintained for two and three days a week respectively, as it has been until now, but it is good to think about how employers can participate in the selection of young people with whom they have to enter into employment contracts, the experts agreed. In other European countries, 5-6 high school students are fighting for one place in the company, and this greatly increases their motivation, it became known at the information meeting.
From April 1, 2024, the state fully takes over the social and health insurance of students in dual education in Bulgaria.
Tags: Weak parental support hinders dual education country Stara Zagora News
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