Political activity and party agitation at school, as well as the dissemination of ideological and political doctrines should be prohibited – this will be proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science in a draft law amending the Pre-school and School Education Act, which will be published for public discussion until the end of this week. The caretaker cabinet will introduce the amendment in the new National Assembly.
„We will demand full depoliticization and de-partisanship of the secondary education system.„, Minister Nikolay Denkov insisted to journalists today and shared the thesis that there is a gap in the texts of the Pre-school and School Education Act that there is no clearly regulated requirement for the school system to be exempt from party and political activities.
„For me it is completely unacceptable for parties to enter a school and conduct party propaganda, regardless of which the parties are. Everyone has the right to be a member of a party, but they have no right to agitate and hold party events in the school network.“, said Prof. Denkov.
The Higher Education Act explicitly states that in addition to ideological and religious doctrines, higher education is also exempt from political doctrines. According to the Minister, this should also happen in secondary education „so that we know that our children, teachers and leaders are focused on learning activities and content, and not on other activities.“
Minister Denkov warned the leaders and teachers in the education system to refrain from political activity at school on the first day of the current election campaign. Currently, only one head of the Regional Department of Education (RDE) is a candidate for MP and he has gone on long-term sick leave. Prior to the April 4 elections, 11 of the 28 RDE chiefs were on leave due to party commitments. The Ministry of Education and Science received signals saying that during the election campaign, principals and teachers were pressured in connection with the activities of political parties.
