When the results of PISA for 2022 and the deplorably low level of functional literacy in mathematics among Bulgarian children became clear at the end of last year, the Ministry of Education and Science, trade unions and organizations rolled up their sleeves in the name of enlightenment. There have been organizations fighting tooth and nail to improve Bulgarian education in our country for a long time, and one of them is “Education without backpacks”. With its Kahn Academy, the organization aims to improve learning outcomes specifically in mathematics.
“If Bulgaria wants to be a competitive country and economy in a world where mathematics, engineering, and technology are of crucial importance, it must put more effort into improving mathematics and science education. We help Bulgarian schools and teachers to increase the engagement and self-efficacy of students, to absorb the
mathematics material more easily and, as a result, to achieve better educational results”, Rozalina Luskova, executive director of “Education without backpacks” .
Khan Academy is the world’s largest education platform, free for anyone, anywhere. It is about 165 million users around the globe. In our country, their number is 135,000. In Khan Academy, over 14,000 video lessons with nearly 100,000 interactive exercises are available.
In fact, in the last year “Education without Backpacks” has added additional HE courses in mathematics for 4th and 7th grades, as well as newly translated courses in biology, arts and artificial
intelligence in education. The program “Better in Mathematics with Khan Academy” in 2023 was launched in two metropolitan schools with very poor results in mathematics. A minimum of 10 more schools are to be involved, this time across the country, as the organization will provide mentoring support to every math teacher, as well as data and analytics support for teacher and principal decisions.
Direct work with schools is a good approach, as Forbes Bulgaria columnist Georgi Stoev wrote . In the past year, the small pilot edition of the “Digital School Leaders” program was launched, which continues on a larger scale in 2024 – to support teachers and principals managing the digital strategy in their institutions and innovative projects related to the digitization of learning processes and implementation of artificial intelligence, including in STEM education.
In order for all this to happen, organizations like “Education without backpacks” spend and need financial support. The expenses for the activity in the past year exceeded BGN 310 thousand and therefore, as a non-profit organization, “Education without backpacks” almost entirely depends on donors – private individuals, companies and institutional donors. In addition, projects in the field of education, which the organization deals with, can receive financial support through various programs.
Such is currently being launched by the UniCredit Foundation. The initiative was launched in 12 countries through a special platform and will allocate a financial resource of 14 million euros for such projects. Bulgaria is among these countries. On a specially created UCF Edu-Fund Platform, any organization can now nominate its project as there are no set quotas by country, and the program is also open to projects from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The term is until April 30, 2025 or until the fund is exhausted.
One of the last large-scale projects that the UniCredit Foundation supports in Bulgaria is precisely “Better math with Khan Academy in junior high schools”.
Organizations also need institutional support. Thanks to its partnership with the Ministry of Education and Culture and Bulgarian schools, the organization launched the implementation of the Khan Academy at the national level to combat the problem of lack of skills in mathematics and natural sciences.
“It is the support of our institutional partners that allows us to gradually scale the implementation of the Khan Academy at the national level. However, the problem with math and science skills is systemic and deep-rooted. Accordingly, systemic efforts are also required, and we are constantly striving to expand the scope of our work to more schools, teachers and students. Therefore, additional funding and institutional support from more municipalities and RUO are always welcome”, says Rozalina Luskova.
…
Iliana Raeva for Paris 2024: Queens, Hell and symbiosis between mathematics and art
Actualno.com
She gave a lecture on what symbiosis between art and mathematics means. On this competition had no competitor with her compositions, of such class, with …
link
Prof. Dr. Sava Grozdev: Human thought cannot be calculated with a formula Economy.bg
For the development of artificial intelligence and the teaching of mathematics, see
what does the man who led Bulgaria to the top of the International Olympics share
…
link
Radoslav Balkanski: Without mathematics and the exact sciences, there will be no development –
BNR
BNR
… mathematics ended another participation of Bulgaria in the open Asian Mathematics Championship held in Seoul, South Korea, and ended in …
link
Two finals of mathematical events are being prepared by the Minyu Balkanski Foundation and
…
National Business Mail
Two finals of mathematical events are being prepared by the Minyu Balkanski Foundation and
“Mathematics Without Borders”. From: August 10, 2024, 10:37 am. The winners of the 10th
…
link
Lyuben Baltajiev from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of the University of Warsaw
present …
BTA
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” was represented by Luben Baltajiev, a third-year student of the “Applied Mathematics” specialty. Beloved…
link
Forecast for the future! The Bulgarian youth at the AI Olympiad speak: “There is no …
Black Sea Lighthouse
… mathematics’. Competed at the Artificial Intelligence Olympiad in Burgas in one of the two Bulgarian teams,
link
Diyan Stamatov: It is good to consider a 15-20% increase in teachers’ salaries salaries in the budget
Business news
The problem with the shortage of personnel in mathematics, physics and natural sciences will be solved
deepens.
link
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
