A pilot project with Google was launched in 200 Bulgarian schools

A pilot project between the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Culture and Google has been launched, which will cover more than 200 Bulgarian schools. These educational institutions will be able to use the latest tools of the technological giant in the field of education, including those based on artificial intelligence. This was agreed upon during a meeting between the Minister of Education and Science, Prof. Galin Tsokov, with Google's regional managers for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The conversation took place within the framework of the world's largest exhibition in the field of education - BETT 2024, which takes place in London. Deputy Minister of Education and Science Nataliya Miteva and Prof. Nayden Shivarov, director of the National STEM Center, were also present at it, the Ministry of Education and Culture reported.
During the meeting, the functionalities of some of the tools were presented. Google explained that since 2015 they have been using artificial intelligence functionalities, which users often do not even suspect. However, new solutions are now being developed aimed at facilitating and supporting the daily work of teachers. The analysis shows that the tools they provide to schools so far save teachers an average of 10 hours a week, or more than one working day. With the functionalities that these 200 Bulgarian schools will have access to, the time saved will be even greater. "Many schools in Bulgaria have good experience working with these products, and that is why our country wants to support them and give them opportunities to use the latest solutions at a global level," stressed Minister Tsokov. The two parties agreed that the process can start as early as April, and their selection will depend on the activity of the schools.
Minister Tsokov was also a guest at the Google headquarters in London, which is responsible for more than 50 countries in the world.
All educational institutions will have access to Canva's tools completely free of charge, for which an agreement has yet to be signed between the Ministry of Education and Culture and the company. This was agreed during a meeting of Minister Tsokov with representatives of the Australian company. They are the leading visual layout platform in the world, and have been developing special functionalities aimed at education for years. In all countries they are free, but an active position on the part of the relevant ministries is necessary, which has been lacking in Bulgaria so far. At the moment, about 60 million students and teachers from all over the world use these functionalities daily, and the covered students exceed 600 thousand.
Bulgaria and the Czech Republic will exchange experience in the development of curricula and educational content. This was discussed during a meeting of Minister Tsokov with representatives of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and their National Pedagogical Institute. During the meeting, the experience of the Czech Republic in education was presented. In 2004, they made a major reform, leaving a great deal of autonomy to schools in terms of curricula. Minister Tsokov presented Bulgaria's policy in this area and expressed interest in continuing the dialogue at the expert level to discuss good practices that can be applied in our country as well.
Digitization and the use of artificial intelligence in education will be the main topics on which Bulgaria and Poland will cooperate in the sector. This was agreed during a meeting of Prof. Tsokov with representatives of the Polish Ministry of National Education. The Bulgarian minister visited the Polish stand at the BETT exhibition and talked with the companies and institutions participating in it. In recent years, Poland has invested about 100 million euros in a platform similar to the Bulgarian Digital Backpack. In this regard, the two parties agreed to discuss their mutual experiences, which may be useful to find the best and workable solutions in upgrading and developing these platforms.
In London, Minister Tsokov also visited the largest Bulgarian Sunday school in Europe - "Vasil Levski". It educates 526 students, and 176 of them participate in additional school activities. This year, it marks 15 years since its establishment, and during the visit, its head, Milena Vezenkova, thanked the Ministry of Education and Culture for the consistent support over the years. Among the interesting innovations in it is that since last year a club "Media Literacy and Journalism" was founded, which is led by the journalist Vasil Hristov. /BGNES