Over 75,000 parents and children in kindergartens and nursery groups will receive support under the „Strong Start“ project, implemented by the Ministry of Education and Culture and financed by the European Programme “Education”. Signatures for its official launch were signed by the Minister of Education and Science, Prof. Galin Tsokov, and Prof. Georgi Vaisilov, executive director of the Executive Agency “Programme Education”.

„I am confident that thanks to the activities of the project, the children will really get a strong start in life. It is very important that they also include nursery groups. This large-scale support will certainly leave an impression on the quality of Bulgarian education,“ said Minister Galin Tsokov. According to him, one of the main goals of the project is to develop the potential in preschool education through support for personal development with a view to more successful social realization.

„This project complements the care of early childhood education and builds on the good practices and experience gained from the successful implementation of the Operational Programme “Science and Education for Smart Growth”, emphasized Prof. Vaisilov. He added that the policy for inclusive early childhood education is complemented by investments under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, as 8 new kindergartens are to be built in Sofia and 49 kindergartens throughout the country are to be modernized.

The activities to support children and their families will be implemented for 5 years, and during this period BGN 105,400,000 will be invested in high-quality education and early childhood care. The funds come from the European Social Fund and the national budget.

Under the „Strong Start“ project, additional support will be provided for the personal development of children with SEN, at risk, with chronic diseases and gifted children for permanent inclusion in preschool education. For this purpose, kindergartens can hire psychologists, speech therapists and resource teachers.

The focus will also be on access and permanent inclusion of children in pre-school education in order to reduce the number of dropouts from the education system. Already at the kindergarten or nursery level, children will be included in additional training, interests, sports, activities related to nature conservation, etc. Through various initiatives and events, parents will be actively involved in the preschool education process. Training for over 3,500 pedagogical and non-pedagogical specialists is also planned.

More information can be found here.

Source: „Мениджър.news“

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