500 resource rooms are equipped with funding under the projects "Strong Start" and "Success for You" of the Ministry of Education and Science. Support for the inclusion of children with special educational needs, chronic diseases and outstanding talents also includes the appointment of specialists - psychologists, resource teachers, speech therapists, etc. Thanks to the professional care and the appropriate environment, over 15,000 children and students are fully involved in the educational process.
The rooms are furnished with the necessary materials and specific resources for the development of children with special needs, and the sensory rooms allow the quantity and intensity of the sensory experience to be easily controlled and monitored. They are designed to cope with stress or to provide sensory integration therapy to students with sensory processing challenges.
The activities under the projects “Success for You“ and “Strong Start“ are implemented under the “Education“ program with funds from the European Social Fund. The equipment of specialized offices and the provision of specialists are only part of the large-scale support for the inclusion of children and their families in the education system. Within the five-year period, the funding under the two projects is over 170 million euros.
Nearly 800,000 euros are received by kindergartens for the equipment and retrofitting of sensory rooms, and 337 are pedagogical specialists - psychologists, speech therapists and resource teachers, providing additional support under “Strong Start“. The sensory room in kindergarten “Lipa“ in Stara Zagora is among the classrooms financed under the project. It has special lights, a water tower, an aquarium, embossed acrylic mirrors. The children are cared for by a psychologist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, provided by the Regional Center with support for the inclusion process, and a teacher's assistant and an assistant educator have been appointed under the project.
Today, the Minister of Education and Science, Krasimir Valchev, got acquainted with the work of the pedagogical team in the kindergarten, who examined the sensory room and the training materials for road safety, purchased with funds from the national program of the Ministry of Education and Science. For the last 6 years, under the module “Road Safety Training Sites“ the program has provided conditions for training on the BDP in a total of 2004 educational institutions. Nearly 800,000 euros are being received by kindergartens for the equipment and re-equipment of such offices under the “Strong Start“ project, and 337 are pedagogical specialists - psychologists, speech therapists and resource teachers, providing additional support.
Under the “Success for You“ project, a total of 230 schools have created or purchased additional equipment for specialized offices worth over 800 thousand euros. With appropriate equipment and materials - for speech exercises, board speech therapy games, numerous wooden and magnetic games, as well as other specific resources, children at risk, with chronic diseases and outstanding talents are supported. Specialized assistance is provided for 10,554 students. 576 specialists have been appointed with funds from the project, including 63 resource teachers, 116 speech therapists, 109 psychologists, as well as other specialists, including teacher assistants and other staff. Minister Krassimir Valchev saw the new resource rooms and equipment for children with various disabilities during his visits to the Sixth Primary School “St. Nikola“ and the Secondary School “Vasil Levski“ in Stara Zagora.
At the Sixth Primary School “St. Nikola“ and the Secondary School “Vasil Levski“, Minister Valchev also visited new multifunctional sports grounds, built under the program of the Ministry of Education. He also inspected the new sports facility at the Primary School “G. Raichev“, and at the PG of Computer Science and Mathematical Modeling “Minko Balkanski“ he was shown the investments in a new dormitory, halls and sports fields.