Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science Krasimir Vulchev announced on Monday that the school year in Bulgaria will not be extended and it will be completed through remote learning. To make this technically possible the number of school examinations will be reduced for the second school term.
The ministry confirmed that there will be no external evaluation for fourth and ninth graders during the ongoing school year instead it will be postponed for the beginning of 2021. The needed legislation changes are expected to be voted by the parliament in the coming days.
This calls for specific changes to be made in the admission rules for math schools in particular. Fifth graders, for example, will be admitted based on their performance from the national math Olympics organized by the Ministry. For admission to the so-called “community” schools will be used the highschoolers’ general performance score from their current year.
Maturity exam dates remain in place for June 1 and June 3 and for July 15 and July 17. Iskra.bg reminds that schools were struggling to reorganize their schooling plan in order to make up for the time lost. Minister Vulchev spoke of possible additional exams for any students willing to improve their exam grades or graduation grade averages. Technical schools will be able to conduct their internal evaluations whereas professional highschool will carry on some practical exercises.
A couple of days ago worried parents signed a petition in a request this year’s admission exams for high-schools and universities to be postponed. In response, Minister Vulchev announced that all safety precautions have been taken in order to minimize any risks of infection spreading. The revised examination schooling material has been uploaded to the official website of the Ministry of Education and Science for students’ reference.
