On February 17 the European School Break Initiative will be launched. MEP from the EPP Svetoslav Malinov is to start promoting the activities of the European Parliament and the European Union among young people with a visit to the "Sts. Cyril and Methodius," school in Plovdiv. The aim is by 2019 students from 100 schools to become acquainted with the work of European institutions and learn of their fundamental rights as European citizens. The training will be in the form of discussions, debates and quizzes.

One should see "European School Break" in the context of the classes in Civic Education that do not exist yet, says Svetoslav Malinov. He has repeatedly stated his strong support for the introduction of this subject in the curricula of schools. "I want to find out how MEPs can be useful, but I cannot do this if I do not pay visits to schools.”

“There are important reasons for the introduction of Civic Education. There are things that are crucial to the development of a country, but never urgent. They are not so urgent as natural disasters, refugees, crime rate - issues that absorb all the energy of authorities and media. No resources are left for the political and economic literacy of people.”

The will to solve these issues is the basis of solving a number of other problems, Mr. Malinov says and compares civic education to health education. Money invested in health education has contributed to better public health, so increasing the awareness of citizens in the sphere of civic education and the possibility to make rational, conscious and informed choices would improve the political and economic situation in the country.

“Being a good democratic citizen means to have certain knowledge that would help you solve your problems later in life. In short - it is not good to realize that you were wrong in your political choices, just because you did not take the time to get informed. It is no good to understand what floating rate actually means, six months after getting mortgage.”

To achieve his ambitions, MEP Svetoslav Malinov uses the bottom-up approach. As part of his term in office he plans to visit dozens of schools in the country; to meet the students in person and talk to teachers and principals. This way he would plan future steps related to the concept of civic education in Bulgaria.

The initiative will be implemented among high-school students and just two days after it was announced, 7 schools applied to join. During the first month the program will take place in Plovdiv, Hissar and Dupnitsa. Each school that participates in the program will receive specially designed teaching materials providing more information on the European Union and the basic concepts in the theory of democracy.

Directors of schools that want to participate can write to: office@smalinov.eu

English: Alexander Markov