The Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev calls on the Ministry of Education and Science for joint efforts and cooperation to develop a plan, if necessary, to transport high school graduates to the schools where the matriculation exams will be held.
"We will protect the right to education of the children and young people of Sofia", writes the Sofia mayor.
"Our analysis for the last two days shows that out of over 160 municipal schools on the territory of the Sofia Municipality, less than 1% of the teachers working in them have not been able to reach their workplaces. "About 10% of students have not attended classes in the last two days, with schools specifying that these absences are also caused by other circumstances," he also wrote.
In kindergartens on Thursday, less than 3% of teachers, or only 77, failed to arrive at work, and on Friday less than 1%, or 23 teachers. Over 101,000 teachers work in Sofia. Non-teaching staff and nurses were also at their workplaces.
Out of a total of about 35,000 children, nearly 25,000 were in kindergarten or nursery, which, despite the unusual conditions, seems rather usual for the age of the children and the season, compared to data from previous years," Terziev wrote.
He expressed his gratitude to the principals and teachers in the schools, who, in addition to the enormous efforts they made to get to work, showed tolerance towards the students. He also thanked the students and their parents for the fact that the desire for knowledge turned out to be stronger than the inconvenience caused and the schools were full.
"Our efforts are now focused on the smooth conduct of the matriculation exams for high school graduates on May 21 and 23. "If the transport workers' unions nevertheless decide to risk the future of these young people, the Sofia Municipality declares that it will mobilize all its resources to participate in ensuring the smooth movement of young people who need it to arrive on time for their exams," Terziev writes.
Sofia remains without public transport during the weekends as well, after no compromise was found between the protesters and the Sofia Municipality.
The protest has been going on for four days now and it is unclear how it will end, after both sides refused to compromise. The strike is already having side effects - patients, students and teachers are having difficulty moving around.