2.  Achieve universal primary education

The second Millennium Development Goal is about education.

       Bulgaria modified the global millennium goal in education – „Achieving primary education for all“ to „Improving primary and secondary education“ because the real issue for the country is not simply access to education, but access to quality education.

       Basic education continues to have a high coverage – 94.7% of children graduated elementary school in 2007 against a 100% target by 2015.  Issues build up in the upper educational grades. Around 4% of children drop out of school in the junior high stage of primary education, which constitutes 45% in the total number of dropouts. Reasons for the high dropout rate vary from social, financial and family issues to absences and low grades.

       International studies show that the quality of education in Bulgaria’s elementary schools is still very good, but it deteriorates in the junior high stage of primary education. Between 1995 and 2003, Bulgaria lost 51 points in international student performance rankings in mathematics and 66 points in natural sciences – the highest drop in all 46 countries covered by the assessment (TIMSS, 15 year-old students).

       Although Bulgaria’s spending on education as a percentage of GDP is close to the average for the new EU members, it is one of the lowest appropriations in „New Europe“. The situation is aggravated by the fact that Bulgaria’s GDP is lower than the EU average, which further deteriorates the physical infrastructure for education and undermines the social prestige of Bulgarian teachers. That has direct repercussions on the quality of education.

       Progress in education is uneven geographically and socially. Educational disparities divide not only Roma children and Bulgarian children, but also those living in rural and urban areas. There is a huge difference between elite schools (special profile high schools)and other schools, which were more than 100 points apart in another international ranking (PISA 2006, students aged 9-10).

       The matriculation exams undertaken by all schools in 2008 once again explicitly showed a rift between different types of schools and disparities between rural and urban areas. Formally, all Bulgarian children have equal access to primary and secondary education but in reality, due to the lack of quality education, many Bulgarian children have already been excluded from the global running, whilst a very small part, ‘the elite’, has vast chances to be among the winners.

       To improve the quality of secondary education, Bulgaria needs to urgently reform its educational system and to create a streamlined school network; an independent system to evaluate the quality of education; and an effective teacher qualification and career development system, as well as elevating education into a national priority.

       The reforms should also aim to tie vocational education with the needs of the labor market and with specific job prospects and placements, thus creating a more competitive workforce. The crisis in mainstream education has been recognized and educational issues have received special attention over the past couple of years.

       Several strategic documents were adopted on educational development and prevention of dropouts.  All these documents indicate there is good will for improving the quality of education in Bulgaria, but many more concrete steps will be required for the actual achievement of that goal, both in terms of regulations and resources.