The Ministry of Education and Science (MES) and the Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev assured that options are being sought and work is being done to ensure the transportation of students and questors for the matriculation exams, which are coming up next week, in case the protest of the workers in the capital's public transport continues and ground transport does not move, dariknews.bg reported.
The Ministry of Education expects to provide at least 60 buses by Wednesday - May 21. At the initiative of Minister Krasimir Valchev, a headquarters was formed on May 16 in connection with the transport situation in Sofia and the upcoming matriculation exams, the ministry's press center announced.
The mobilization of all means of transport available to the Ministry of Education and Science began yesterday. Currently, 54 school buses with a total of 1,388 seats have been mobilized from the districts of Lovech, Kyustendil, Sofia-region, etc., and their number is expected to increase to 60 (with a total of over 1,500 seats) by Wednesday. Along with this, all structures at the Ministry of Education and Science have been ordered to provide their cars for the days of the matriculation exams. The institution will provide all the cars it has for the needs of students and bursars. School principals have also started an organization with parents to provide more alternatives for the transportation of high school graduates, the ministry notes.
About 350 students have so far stated that they do not have alternative transportation to get to the school they are assigned to. This is shown by the first summarized information from the headquarters, after the Ministry of Education and Science sent a letter to all school principals in the capital, which have students in the 12th grade, with the task of conducting an urgent survey of high school graduates. In parallel, detailed information is being collected for all the bursars who will have problems with transportation. These are a total of about 3,000 people, without whom the exams could not begin, the ministry indicates.
The Municipality's efforts are aimed at the smooth conduct of the high school graduation exams 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 to get to their exams on time, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev announced on his Facebook page.
Under 1% of teachers employed in a total of 160 schools have not been able to reach their workplaces in the last two days in Sofia. 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, the mayor informed.
For the fourth consecutive day today, surface public transport in Sofia is not operating due to a protest by employees who demand higher pay and better working conditions. The metro operates with a normal schedule for Saturdays and Sundays.
From „Metropolitan“ EAD announced that tomorrow, May 18, Sunday, the metro will operate, but due to a television broadcast at 7:00 p.m. at the National Stadium “Vasil Levski”, on Sunday evening the metro will operate with extended working hours – until 1:30 a.m. (compared to Monday).