The state should finance second higher education in priority professional fields and protected specialties. This is provided for by changes to the Higher Education Act, submitted by deputies from the ITN, GERB and BSP. The changes are planned to come into force on January 1, 2026.
One of the submitters is Yordanka Fandakova from GERB-SDF. She explained to the Bulgarian National Radio that the changes are part of the overall vision that we must quickly make up for lost time in order to prepare young people for the time they live in.
"Today's students are expected to change an average of 3 professions during their working lives. This requires us to provide opportunities for constant retraining. Minister Valchev's policy proposes key reforms in both secondary and higher education, which are aimed at ensuring that children and young people in the increasingly dynamic times we live in can be flexible, can prepare, and seek new opportunities for themselves. This change is not just about giving money, but financing to achieve important goals," commented Fandakova in the program "Above All."
She specified that the measures will be for specialties for which there is low demand from young people, and at the same time a large deficit and high demand on the labor market. According to her, these are engineering and technical, natural sciences and mathematics, and some humanitarian specialties.
"The role of the state is to encourage more young people to seek out these currently unattractive specialties", said the MP.
In her words, this is also support not only for business and young people, but also for universities, because it would broaden interest in the programs they offer:
"This small step is very important for us to be able to provide more specialists for business, for more young people to feel good in Bulgaria, and to help universities".
She emphasized that the proposal is widely supported.
Yordanka Fandakova also commented on the topic of introducing the subject "Virtues and Religions" at school:
"We focus too much on the specific topic of the subject. Society, children, and schools really need an opportunity to adequately emphasize and encourage the educational role. Starting from there, we need to find these mechanisms that will help everyone. We assign too much to the school – we say that teachers should educate, but we do not give them the tools for this education. When you start from education in virtues, then you end up with one of the options, of course by choice, to study either ethics, or whatever the subject is called".
However, according to her, teachers need qualifications and preparation for such a subject.