“Education for every child” - statement of Dr. Jane Muita, Representative of UNICEF in Bulgaria

UNICEF Bulgaria appreciates all the national efforts to tackle the challenges that children face due to the  COVID-19 pandemic. We also acknowledge that despite all the national efforts, in Bulgaria, children with disabilities continue to be the most excluded from education. Changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic have made the situation even more complicated. One in five children with disabilities does not receive additional support and is practically at risk of being  excluded from education.  

We, at UNICEF, firmly believe that every child has the right not only have  access to education, but to quality education that fully nurtures their potential.

That is why, together with our partners - the Ministry of Education and Science and the Regional Inclusive Education Support Center Sofia, we will develop the first inclusive  digital educational platform in the country. It  will make the learning process more accessible to children with special needs by providing educational materials, adapted for the specific needs of every child and will improve the work of all people who support the child – specialists, teachers, and parents. Apart from providing the necessary online tools it will also link together the family and the professionals.

The resources for the development of the platform will be fundraised through the advocacy and fundraising campaign ‘Education for Every Child’ that we started on the 26^th of May. The technical development of this platform and all the materials that will support the children, their parents and teachers requires significant resources . We estimate that we will need 400,000 BGN to support this process.

We are grateful to all of you who have supported  us so far and look forward to many more coming forward to join us in this exciting journey .

If you continue supporting us with regular monthly donations, by the end of this year we will gather 71 088 leva to finance the creation and development of the platform. On behalf of UNICEF team, I would like to say a BIG thank you – for your support and for  your trust in our work! Our ambition is to launch the platform as early as this autumn. We believe that this intervention is very urgent and hence UNICEF will invest 150,000 BGN from existing programme budgets to accelerate the process as we continue to anticipate your support in the coming  months.

There is no such thing as a “small” contribution  – Every donation counts !

– Only together and united we can achieve our goal: to provide better access to digital education to children with disabilities. Only together we can guarantee that no child will be left behind in learning !