site.btaEducation Ministry to Analyze Education Structure Soon, Says Minister Valchev

The Education and Science Ministry plans to discuss and analyze the issue of education structure in the coming months, Education and Science Minister Krasimir Valchev said on Friday.

"When does primary education end and how many grades are required, when do children apply, how are they distributed among schools," he pointed to the issues that will be discussed. "The prevailing opinion is that we made a mistake, including my own opinion, by lowering the completion of primary education from 8 to 7 grades and, respectively, applying to the secondary school stage", Valchev stressed, adding that the negative results are visible. "Children are stressed at 14 years old, they cannot make this important choice, it is not logical for them to do it then. All other countries are going in the opposite direction and are rather raising the completion of primary education, we have lowered it," he pointed out.

He emphasized that the abolition of the mandatory matriculation exam in mathematics years ago was a mistake as well. However, he stressed that it cannot be returned to the way it was before other problems with the curricula are resolved, including the curriculum in mathematics and other natural sciences all together. "We will encourage the training of teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, informatics or a combination of them", he said regarding another change the Ministry is planning.

"Paid training is growing in medical education. You probably know that we are in first place on the Balkan Peninsula in terms of the number of foreign medical students. In Europe, we are in first place in terms of medical students, including foreign medical students," Valchev emphasized, adding that the level of Bulgarian medical higher education is good and there is a need for doctors in Europe.