Bulgaria's Education Minister Sergey Ignatov put on hold the Cabinet's decision to subsidize private schools in Bulgaria and thus reduce paid tuition taxes.

Before the regular meeting of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers on Wednesday, Minister Ignatov announced that new High School Education Act will drafted by the end of 2010, yet the 2011 budget will not include any state subsidies for the Bulgarian private school institutions.

At the end of April, 2010, the Ministry announced that Bulgaria's private schools and nurseries will be granted state subsidies, equal to those of their state-run counterparts under the new draft High School Education Act and thus bring down the fees in the Bulgarian privately-run schools and kinder gardens.

The measure was estimated at an additional annual cost of BGN 10-12 M.

Minister Ignatov stated Wednesday that state subsidies for privately-run educational institutions are likely to be included in the Ministry's budget for 2012 or 2013.

Bulgaria's education minister pointed out that experts are already working on the amendments to the act for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS).

Last week Minister Ignatov outlined some of the planned changes, including depriving BAS of its central managerial functions, turning the Academy's real estate property into state ownership and granting independence to the Academy's institutes.

“The central unit of the Academy may be closed down and the separate institutes may become fully autonomous,” declared Wednesday Ignatov, adding that the “average BAS salary is BGN 817, yet this money from the state budget is spent to maintain one huge administration rather than invested in scientific research.”

BAS published on Monday a declaration against the reforms announced by the Bulgarian Minister of Education, Sergey Ignatov, announcing that “None of the EU member states has undertaken similar authoritative measures which are reminiscent only of the dictatorship imposed on the Romanian Academy of Sciences by the Socialist dictator Chaushesku.”

The Bulgarian scholars also supported the Tuesday protest of the students and educators at Sofia University St. St. Kilment Ohridksi, the country's oldest, against the state subsidy cuts. The Cabinet voted on reducing the annual budget for the university from an annual BGN 7 M to just BGN 2 M despite the fact that the establishment 17 buildings to maintain – all of which have been declared historical sites.

The protesters demanded that the government make education a priority in its policy and pointed out that Western European countries stay away from cuts in the budgets for education even in times of crisis.

Bulgaria's Prime Ministers Boyko Borisov responded to the rally by snubbing the protesters and saying that in “the grip of crisis, people everywhere are reducing salaries and pensions.”

The prime minister reprimanded not only the university educators and students, but also the media, which in his words, deliberately ignored the difficulties that the country faced over the last two-three years.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!