Human
rights news: October 2004
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08 October 2004 |
:: NEWS :: |
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Bulgarian Parliament rejects draft act on fund for educational integration
of minority students
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On October 7, 2004, the Bulgarian Parliament rejected on its first reading the draft act for creating an Educational Fund "Educational Integration of Children and Students from Ethnic Minorities." The project was rejected after only 106 MPs backed it, against 66 who voted against, and 50 abstained. The parliamentary groups of the Union of Democratic Forces, United Democratic Forces and the Bulgarian Socialist Party voted against the draft law. The fund was supposed to finance the support projects for the improvement of the academic results of ethnic minority children and students by providing equal access to quality education. It was to be financed through resources of Bulgarian and international institutions, donations as well as funds from the Ministry of Education and Science. The financial resources were supposed to be distributed by a committee through open competitions. Bulgarian Socialist Party MP Evgeniya Zhivkova critisized the draft act's philosophy claiming that the country needed to encourage the educational integration of children in general and not just minorities. Such a fund could create discriminatory attitudes in society, Zhivkova said. Dnevnik daily |