Schoolchildren are eager to return to classrooms as soon as possible, and they never even stop to think how great it is that in the conditions of pandemic there can be no parent-teacher meetings. Another thing they are hoping for is that older people will get accustomed to using new technologies at a time when both teachers and parents have to get involved, albeit indirectly, in the process of distance learning.

In the third week since the start of distance learning, there are 700,000 pupils and 60,000 schoolteachers in the country taking part in the process, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reports. Yet, for 2,000 teachers teleworking is impossible for technical reasons, and 70,000 children do not have access to the necessary devices or internet. According to Minister of Education Krasimir Valchev, BGN 1-2 million have been earmarked from the Operational Programme Science and Education for Smart Growth for providing teachers with the devices needed. Mobile service providers have undertaken to create more WiFi points in the Roma neighbourhoods and in villages.

Meanwhile, other options for teaching outside of classrooms are work by telephone, as well as by the delivery of earning materials to the children’s homes. Once the state of emergency is lifted these children will be able to catch up with additional classroom work, Minister Valchev says.

95% of schoolchildren are involved in the process of distance learning, according to latest Ministry of Education data. Krasimir Valchev recommends that, besides teaching new material and evaluation, school headmasters ease the educational regime from 13 to 16 April because of the “accumulation of fatigue owing to the intensity of the activities”. This will mean students will be able to make a gradual transition to the spring vacation which coincides with the Easter holidays from 17 to 20 April. Expectedly, out of all 2,400 schools in the country, it is the private educational establishments that are best prepared for the digital process of education because they have the necessary resource and have already been using virtual classrooms.

At the other extreme is the education of the children from the so-called vulnerable groups. According to Milko Stoyanov, educational mediator in Stolipinovo, a Roma neighbourhood of Plovdiv, conditions there preclude the “migration of education online”. As practically no children there have the devices necessary to be able to join the online process of education, Milko and the other mediators help children learn at home – bringing them learning materials, taking their homework back to the teachers, explaining what the tasks are. There are children who are coping, says the mediator who takes printed-out lessons to the 50 families in the Roma neighbourhood.

From a parent’s point of view distance learning is a difficult thing though it is not impossible, says Feride Yusein, mother of a first grader and two daughters in the 4^th and in the 7^th grade. They all watch videos on the website ucha.se together, listen to recorded lessons and fill in worksheets which they send to the teachers by Viber and Messenger. Feride Yusein herself is studying so she can apply to university and become a teacher. Being mediator at a kindergarten in Plovdiv she goes to various neighbourhoods in the city to explain what the risks of coronavirus are and to encourage people to practice good hygiene. They on their part ask her: When is the kindergarten going to reopen?

In the small town of Vurshets 95% of children are also being taught online. It was more difficult in the first few days, until everyone was able to get into the rhythm, says Venislava Zamfirova, tutor at the Ivan Vazov secondary school:

I cannot say it is so stressful, because teachers are flexible, she said for Radio Vidin. We had already been applying some of these things at school. What is more stressful is not being able to go out and take a walk. Otherwise the children are finding it interesting. I am optimistic and I think that this will all go on until the end of April. We shall go back on track though it will be a little harder for the wheel to turn.