The Education Union at the Podkrepa Trade Union insists on introducing a discipline assessment for Bulgarian students with incentives for good behavior and limiting the use of social networks. This is stated in a position statement from the trade union organization chaired by Dr. Yulian Popov.
It states that the Education Union categorically condemns the crime committed by the future school-age "citizens" from Plovdiv and the region, BTA specified. This is another tragic act that confirms the diagnosis of lack of education, which we have been talking about for at least two decades. "Taking a human life is the most serious crime and society is justifiably extremely sensitive to it. But there are many other violations of morality, law and decency, and no religion or justice system in the world defines these deviations as small or permissible. Because every serious act is preceded by numerous other manifestations to which we turn a blind eye every day. This tragedy is an indicator of the failure not of education, but of the state to build citizens who know and follow the rules and are responsible for their actions," the position emphasizes.
The union points out that the examples of aggression and violence are countless. "For every critically thinking person, it is obvious that this is happening in front of the inactive gaze of state institutions, which demonstrate apathy and cowardice towards the militant parental efforts to intervene in the management of Bulgarian education. The negative consequences of this flirtation with parental assets, encouraged by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Regional Department of Education and municipal institutions, are more than obvious", the teachers' union stated.
"Such tragic events are an occasion for us, the teachers, to categorically declare "no to the liberal approach in Bulgarian education! No to trampling on the rules and discipline in the family and school! No to the politicization of our children and depriving them of a real education, because education without upbringing is a liberal lie! No to turning the Bulgarian teacher into a hostage of politicians and bureaucrats", the position also states. It notes that the latest school law - the one on preschool and school education, is lobbyist and is dominated by the interests of that part of society that does not accept the rules, obligations, hard work and responsibility. "This law created many empty policies, which it was known in advance that would be difficult to work in Bulgarian conditions, but which easily put Bulgarian education in a command-administrative regime. And for ten years now we “enjoy“ a policy of support that practically tolerates aggression and the lack of rules and punishes good and well-behaved children; a policy of publicity that places the public council in the role of conductor and moderator of processes that are beyond its competence”, write the “Education” Union.
The most important “achievement” of the law is, the authors of the position claim, that it placed the Bulgarian teacher in a new role - to prove his work on paper, to be equally guilty before institutions, administrations, parents and their liberal organizations. And the time for his true mission - to be a teacher of children and students, was taken away from him. “It is time to admit the truth! If we want to see something different from aggression, cruelty, hypocrisy and death tomorrow, we must start the change today”, the position states.
It states recalls that the Trade Union “Education“ has long warned about the adverse consequences of the liberal approach to education. “The calls for institutional partnership with the Bulgarian school, for limiting parental interference in the professional work of teachers and principals, for introducing a standard for student behavior and for strengthening discipline in school, including by introducing an assessment to measure it,” the document also states.
The trade union recalls that many Bulgarian students are systematically late, absent, smoke in the schoolyard, demonstrate rude behavior towards students, teachers and principals, violate school regulations, exercise verbal and physical aggression and do not comply with the ban on using phones.
The trade unionists claim that they have repeatedly proposed and continue to propose for the secondary education system unconditional compliance with the school regulations, regulated by a mandatory contract that each parent signs with the educational institution and a simplification of the procedure for imposing sanctions. The administrative approach must be changed and the possibility of appeal must be reconsidered when it renders the educational effect of the sanction meaningless, they claim.
It is also proposed to introduce a discipline assessment for Bulgarian students with incentives for good behavior, a ban on unregulated communication between parents and teachers during school hours, the actual implementation of the ban on phones in school and restrictions on the use of social networks by students. According to the union, there should also be an end to political and administrative pressure from institutions in the event of a complaint by a parent against a teacher, principal or educational institution, as well as administrative and financial sanctions and volunteer work for parents whose children systematically do not comply with school regulations.
Temporarily removing students from class or from classes for one or several days in the event of gross aggression is also among the proposals, and this should be followed by a warning before imposing the sanction of “transfer to another school“. Another idea is that when transferring to another educational institution, the responsibility for implementing the procedure should be entirely with the parent.
In it, the “Education“ Union summarizes that effective measures are needed not only in the general regulatory framework for countering aggression, in the actions of Bulgarian institutions, as well as in the thinking of our entire society.