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School for grown ups

School for adults - project "New Chance for Success"
Photo: sever.bg
People that have missed the opportunity to attend school for one reason or another may catch up to some extend. Thus they have a better chance to continue with their education and most important – to get rid of unemployment. A project, funded by the European Social Fund and a part of the Human Resources Development grants free financial support for the education of people aged over 16, titled New Chance for Success. Some EUR 7.5 mln. have been provided for the purpose.
Any further access of illiterate and poorly educated people to educational and professional training is eased via the process of education and acquiring of key competences and skills, which improves their competitiveness on the labor market. The project that is two years long will seize 10,500 people that haven’t seen a classroom till now. They will receive a certificate when graduating the respective level. The literacy classes have already kicked off across the entire country. Thus the chances of illiterate and poorly educated people to find a job increase and they will no longer queue for social benefits.

Statistics says that some 80,000 Bulgarians are illiterate. A great number of those are Roma people, who used to quit school for one reason or another till recently, without even graduating primary school. Now many of those realize that life gives no chance to them without basic skills, such as reading or writing. The state also interfered actively, ceasing this quitting process. Nowadays social benefits for the families are bound to the fact whether their children attend school or not. However, there are adults that wouldn’t attend school even for free and those are not only Roma people.

Adult students divide in two groups. People in the first one start from A – B, i.e. the alphabet. They will spend 5 months or 600 hours and they will even get scholarships and their transport expenses will be covered. They only have to study hard and not to miss classes. The second group seizes those, who haven’t graduated primary school. Their training that consists of the tutorial for the 5th, 6th and the 7th grade lasts three months or 360 hours.

The syllabus has been adapted to the age of the students, but almost all major books and information are included, the tutors say. For instance the grown up students will have to read the Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, the stories about popular folk hero Hitar Petar, Under the Yoke of Bulgarian classicist Ivan Vazov., they should be aware of the role of History of Slavs and Bulgarians by Paisii Hilendarski in the époque of the national Renaissance etc. At the end of their training the students will have to be able to retell a story, to compile correct sentences, to write and calculate. The certificate will give them the chance to apply for a job. Otherwise nobody would want them and nobody could blame the employers for that.

Compiled from articles from different media
Editor: Milka Dimitrova
English version: Zhivko Stanchev


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