"According to the new law on pre-school and school education, teachers and principals will have a statute of pedagogical specialists. They both will be subject to legally attestation committee. There will be a special standard under which this attestation will be carried out. In this respect the unions have some concerns. We're not sure whether this committee to conduct attestation will be competent enough. The law even provides for termination of employment relations of a teaching specialist, who has a negative appraisal. We'll see how it will operate in Bulgaria,” said Yuliyan Petrov, Chairperson of the Education Trade Union with the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa, speaking in an interview with Radio FOCUS – Plovdiv. 

According to Petrov the new law, although quite capacious, it is only a framework and many of the policies will be refined through standards.

“There are 18 standards and the law provides for all these standards to begin to act. Three of the standards ought to be ready in two months and the Minister has issued an order to clear these standards. These are standards of general education, the curriculum and standards for textbooks and their content,” the expert said.

Yuliyan Petrov noted that the new law, although promulgated in the State Gazette, would enter into force as of August 2016, and the part, which concerns the financing would become a fact in 2017.