Minister Tsokov: An international project will support early childhood care

An international project, which will be implemented in Bulgaria and Portugal, will help improve the care and quality of early childhood education. This was announced by the Minister of Education and Science Prof. Galin Tsokov at a meeting dedicated to its launch. 

"We have already developed a National Framework for the Quality of Early Childhood Education and Care, and the project will build on it by providing an opportunity for the introduction of quality indicators in institutions and comprehensive monitoring," he emphasized.

Prof. Tsokov reminded that the Ministry of Education works together with the Ministries of Health and Labor and Social Policy so that children can not only be healthy and fully developed, but also successful by acquiring life skills. "If this happens in early childhood, the education system can build on it," the minister said.

The project is financed by the EU through the Technical Support Instrument, and the implementation will be carried out by UNICEF in cooperation with the European Commission. It is for a period of 2 years and will facilitate the mutual exchange of expertise and good practices in Bulgaria and Portugal for the achievement of the objectives of the Council Recommendation on the establishment of a European Child Guarantee to prevent and combat poverty and social exclusion.

Analyzes of the current systems for management, monitoring and quality assessment of early childhood care and education will be carried out. It is also planned to study good practices from other EU Member States through mutual exchange events. Based on these analyses, a Concept for a comprehensive system for monitoring and evaluation of early childhood education and care will be developed, along with a toolkit for monitoring and evaluation.

The concept and toolkit will be piloted in several Bulgarian municipalities during the 2025/2026 school year, after which they will be finalized and a report with recommendations will be prepared. In addition, communication activities and campaigns will be carried out aimed at raising awareness of the importance of early childhood education and care.

"With this new international project, the EU is helping Bulgaria and Portugal with targeted reforms to improve the quality of education and care for the youngest children. High-quality early childhood education and care is a principle enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights," said , Judit Rózsa Acting Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Support to Structural Reforms.

"We are pleased to support the two Member States in their goal of providing all children with a foundation for long-term success in education, employability, health and social inclusion, especially for disadvantaged children," she added.

"This is a key moment in supporting national efforts to improve the quality of early childhood education and care. It is an honor for us to be together with you and the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission on this journey," said Octavian Bivol, UNICEF Deputy Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. 

"I am confident that with our collective expertise and dedication, we will develop a strong and quality monitoring system that will set new standards for assessing the quality of early childhood education and care," he added.

The management of the project for Bulgaria is carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Ministry of Health. For Portugal, leadership is carried out by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation and the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security.

The Technical Support Instrument is the Commission's main tool to assist Member States in designing and implementing growth- and inclusive-inclusive reforms.  It has a budget of €864 million over seven years (2021-2027) Around 780 projects for around 1200 reforms, including transnational and regional reform projects, have been implemented so far.

The opening meeting of the project was also attended by Dr. Nathalie Berger, Director of the Directorate-General for Support to Structural Reforms of the European Commission, Christina do Bruin, UNICEF Representative for Bulgaria, Natalia Miteva, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Natalia Efremova, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Dobromira Kareva, Deputy Minister of Health, etc.