Protest of parents of high school students with study in Romanian "Mihai Eminescu".
At the end of last week, they publicly expressed their concern about where their children will study. The reason is that the public school is now housed in the 29th municipal school building, and its lease expires in the spring of 2025 and is not currently scheduled to be renewed. Parents and students are demanding that a suitable high school building be found as soon as possible to meet their needs.
"What we are pushing for is a peaceful school year to begin with. "We want our children to have a school that they know will be theirs for the rest of their education," he said on "The Day Begins". Pavlina Popova, mother of a student in the 8th grade of PGIIRE.
"Suddenly it turns out that our high school is the landlord of this school that wants the premises. And I also want to remind our children that regardless of who the principal is, it is the state and municipality's concern that some 250 children have a place to go and study in normal conditions", said Alexander Tsvetanov, father of a student in the 11th grade of PGIIRE. ;Mihai Eminescu".
People complain that the buildings that are intended to be home to their children are "absolutely unfit", practically destroyed.
„We have no official information about what will happen after March. Unofficial – will move the children to the building of the former technical school for polymer technologies in the "Svoboda" neighborhood of the capital. She looks pitiful,”, shared one of the mothers of a student who came out in protest. According to another woman, the building has not been occupied since 2005. The parents are worried that the children will not be able to get to the new building and that they will have to travel twice as far.
The options to enroll your child in the middle of the school year tend to zero, worried parents share.
"While I was the director of this school for 5 years, this issue was on my attention. I have been in constant correspondence with the Ministry of Education and Culture, which is the principal of the Romanian high school. I have made two suggestions. One of which is staying in the 29th school building with the necessary extension. The other proposal is for the 76th school in the center of Sofia," explained Sonia Stoyanova, former director of PGIIRE "Mihai Eminescu".
The former director explained that "alternatives were not discussed at any time".
The Ministry of Education did not respond to the invitation of "The Day Begins", but sent their position.
Desislava Zhelyazkova from the Municipality of Stolichna said that a proposal will be made to the SOS to extend the previous one and that the children can stay in this building until the end of the second school term.
"In the meantime, we hope that the Ministry of Education and Culture will enter into its functions to look for a building for the school of which it is the principal".
We are open to dialogue in order to do the best for the children, Zhelyazkova was emphatic.
"A permanent solution must be found,", she added.
The Ministry of Education and Culture has sent a letter to the Capital Municipality that the Romanian High School wants six additional classrooms because the school is developing. Meanwhile, the 29th school “Kuzman Shapkarev” has also increased its intake plan, meaning the two schools cannot continue to operate in the same building. The SO will offer until the end of the school year that the children from the Romanian High School stay in their old building.
The Romanian high school is a public school under the authority of the Ministry of Education, founded in 1999 by virtue of a bilateral agreement between Bulgaria and Romania. At the same time, the Bulgarian high school "Hristo Botev" was opened in Bucharest, where the Bulgarian language is also studied, according to the school's website. At the moment, the high school in Sofia is located in the building of the 29th SU "Kuzman Shapkarev", but the usage contract signed between the two schools in 2015 expires next year, Ganeta Nikolova, mother of a student from the Romanian high school, explained to BTA. She said that a few days ago the parents learned that in February of next year there is a move to a building in the municipal building. "Freedom" on "Rozhen" Blvd. 25. Years ago, the polymer technology technical school was housed there, and recently students from the tourism high school have been temporarily accommodated there. It is a question of a building in extremely bad condition, neglected, dangerous, without heating in winter, Nikolova stressed. She said that relations between the 29th School and the Romanian High School have been strained for years, as by "Kuzman Shapkarev" they don't give the kids from the other high school access to the gym and when the weather is bad, they have physical in the classrooms and in the lobby on the third floor.
Parents are opposed to moving the school to what they say is a neglected building and have said they will withdraw their children from the high school if it happens. According to them, a large number of high school teachers are also against the move and have told them that they will most likely leave as well. This will mark the end of the Romanian High School in Sofia, said the parents from the protest in front of BTA.
Representatives of the parents from Saturday's protest were received today with Cutlin Rudoi, the deputy head of the Romanian Embassy in Bulgaria, who has committed to convey the problem to the Romanian ambassador to Bulgaria, Brandusa Ioana Predescu.