site.btaAI Should Help School Students and Support Teachers, Education Minister Says

School students should learn with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), which can and should also support teachers, Education and Science Minister Krasimir Valchev said on Friday at the “Skills for Innovation in Education” national conference, organized by the Centre for Creative Training and hosted by Sofia Municipality. The two-day forum, held on November 7 and 8 at Inter Expo Centre, focuses on digital skills and media literacy in the AI era.

Sooner or later, Bulgaria will develop its own closed AI-based model, featuring modules to assist teachers by generating lessons and exam materials, supporting evaluation processes, and offering administrative assistance, Valchev said. He added that this is part of the ongoing project for digital transformation under the operational programme and that this step will be taken in the near future.

Valchev said that the educational system needs to be “reprogrammed” through the energy of teachers, schools, and partners. Over the years, significant progress has been made in digitalization, with schools equipped with electronic devices and electronic grade books. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has recognized Bulgaria’s education system as one of the most digitalized, with no major gap between small and large, rural and urban schools, he underscored.

The Education Minister added that while education must remain conservative in its core mission, it should be progressive and innovative in its teaching methods and approaches. In the age of artificial intelligence, he stressed, it will be even more important to strengthen students’ foundation in the humanities, ethics, and mathematics, which foster logical thinking, creativity, abstract reasoning, and concentration.

Valchev also discussed Bulgaria’s training schools that prepare students for international Olympiads, noting that increasing their funding will be a budgetary priority in 2026.