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Plovdiv, Bulgaria
The city of Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria and was the European Capital of Culture for 2019. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe, and has a well-preserved old town, with a mix of ancient Roman, medieval and Ottoman architecture.
groups
City population
341,153
school
Average number of years of schooling
12
person
Member since
2016
Vision
Plovdiv has created platforms through cloud education which allow students to study anytime while offering training to teachers. Over 200 teachers have participated in the cloud education training. Plovdiv is committed to this web-based learning programme for it provides an opportunity for the complex development of not only the educational and technical skills of participants, but it also creates the skills for working in digital jobs.
Policies, plan and implementation
Sustainability and health
The health of students is one of the priorities of the municipality. The city focuses on efforts to construct sports facilities in schools. Plovdiv aims to develop the city’s sports culture to improve children’s health. The municipality has projects with institutions and NGOs that conduct health campaigns aimed at the parents of children who are part of disadvantaged groups.
Equity and inclusion
The city runs various cultural and ecological informal education initiatives that involve all age groups and increase the engagement of society in the process of making lifelong learning the new norm. Plovdiv harnesses both formal and informal learning to promote equity and inclusion across all age groups.
Decent work and entrepreneurship
Through the Career Orientation programme, Plovdiv focuses on formal and informal learning as well as early career orientation to provide students with a clear career path. The city aims to expand its partner network to include new employers and schools. In addition, the municipality holds a yearly contest for the Best Young Entrepreneur where selected participants get seed funding to realize their idea.
Good practices
Digitalisation of the education process in Plovdiv
This initiative aims for the full digitalisation of the learning process in schools through the platforms G Suite for Education and Microsoft Office 365. The municipality provides assistance to schools to implement cloud technologies. These cloud technologies attract students to the formal system as well as increase their participation in the creation of learning content through project-based learning and reverse-classroom teaching. This initiative has enhanced and facilitated interaction between key players in the educational process and has decreased the number of school absences and drop-outs.
Montessori Pedagogy
This initiative involves the reconstruction and furnishing of kindergartens to fit the principles of Montessori pedagogy, as well as educating and certifying teaching staff and principals in kindergartens. Over 200 teachers have been educated in the method since 2017.