1 BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Sustainable Development And Education: The Challenge For Bulgaria Prof. Elka Todorova, Sc. D. Albena - November 2003

2 FIGHTING POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION - THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The Second Goal in the Millennium Goals Document state for better primary and secondary education to be reached by raising the percentage of graduates from primary education (grade 1-8 grade) from 84.4 % to 95 % and keeping the line of graduating from secondary education to 85 % The claim: 1.Only individuals with enough education are able to understand the “scarcity principle” and to act in line with the new ecological interpretation of successful life 2.Only individuals with qualitative education get suitable occupation, compete in the labor market, earn decent living and prolong sustainable development

3 Data shows children in Bulgaria from rural and urban settings to have unequal access to education. 1.Children in rural areas get 3 years of education less than children in urban areas. The difference between rural and urban children graduating primary school (eight grade) is getting bigger over time - from 16 % in 1996 to 21 % in The First Challenge: Inequality:

4 The Second Challenge: The Urban - Rural Division There is a tendency of augmentation the difference in the level of graduates from primary school in relation to their place of living

5 Around 9 %of the children entering the elementary school system (1-4 grade) do not graduate. Around 16 % of the children drop out of school before graduation from primary school (1-8 grade). Around 3 % of the students in 2003 who started fifth grade dropped out before the end of the school year. The Third Challenge: Increasing Drop-out Rates

6 The Fourth Challenge: Education and Poverty Percent of people with secondary education aged 15 and over: The higher the education the larger the gap between poor and non-poor people

7 Defining Strategic Policy Approaches in Education Reform to Reach Sustainable Development Caused by the necessity to create suitable circumstances for all people to acquire enough education, better- quality of education, and to aim to obtain higher educational level for constant improvement through continuing education at all stages of life I Direct intervention to prevent educational disadvantage II Developing integrated institutional responses to early school leavers III Promoting lifelong learning and adult training enhancing the level of compulsory education; set up foundations at municipality level to provide financial assistance to poor children; improving access to learning with low thresholds to entry; compensating those who have missed out on education through developing customized education and raining pathways; increasing training for info-tech adaptation