NGO: In Varna nurseries and kindergartens, there is over-enrollment, which reduces the quality of education

More than 3,300 children from Varna are enrolled in a daycare center above the permissible norm for one group, which is 18 children for a nursery and 23 children for a kindergarten. The average markup for daycare is 50%, for kindergarten 64%, and the record is 37 children in one group in kindergarten. These data were presented today at a press conference organized by the “Educational Community – Varna” association and the “Kaleidoscope” foundation. The information was obtained in accordance with the Law on Access to Public Information (PAI) from the children’s facilities on the territory of the city and from the municipality. Despite the overload of the groups, 911 children remained outside the education system for the 2023/2024 school year. However, Varna remains without absorbed funding from the state program for compensations for the families of children for whom a place in kindergarten is not provided. The initiative to receive them should be from the parents, emphasized the Deputy Mayor for Education Pavel Popov. He admitted that the possibility of receiving compensation was not promoted.

The compensation for an unadopted child from 1 to 3 years old is BGN 457 per month, and for a child from 3 to 6 years old BGN 510, provided that the child is enrolled in a private childcare center or cooperative.

The over-admission is due to the way in which the financing of the kindergartens is arranged, it stimulates the directors to accept more children, emphasized the deputy mayor Pavel Popov. We can support this system and this number for now. He thinks that Mrpublic-private partnerships and the promotion of state compensation are an opportunity to solve the problem of the lack of places in children’s institutions in Varna. Popov sum up the situation like this – few kindergartens, many children, decline in the quality of their education.

The trend towards reduction of pre-school groups in schools was also reported. Currently, there are only 12 Varna schools.

We are aware that structural changes are needed in general in the education system in Bulgaria, incl. such that the municipalities can self-organize in the decisions. All big cities have the problem of over-admission, but outside of Sofia, parents have not heard that the state grants compensation for a rejected child. This is what Nora Gavazova said from Kaleidoscope Foundation, and her colleague Yavor Yakimov presented the possible short-term solutions offered by the non-governmental sector in Varna :

– For children admitted to a childcare facility outside their area, the parent can choose whether to attend there or use the compensation due;

– The municipality should provide public information on admission (normative number of children for each group, actual number admitted, available places, including for children admitted in another area, not by place of residence, for the possibility of applying for compensation from the state).

– Provision of additional teaching staff in overcapacity groups to increase the quality of care.

– Opening of preparatory groups in schools.

The lack of places in nurseries and kindergartens and the unregulated exceeding of the legally permissible number of children in groups is a long-standing problem faced by families in Varna, as well as teachers working in children’s institutions. Its seriousness and progressive severity over the years require urgent measures on the part of the municipal authorities, the educational non-governmental organizations insisted in their appeal.

According to information from the Ministry of Education and Culture, parents of children from the age of three until they enter the first grade who are not accepted in state or municipal kindergartens or schools to which they applied have the right to compensation from the state. For them, the municipality of residence has not offered another equivalent place in a municipal kindergarten or school.