Closed nurseries and unoccupied positions: Who will take care of the little ones in Sofia? It turns out that nurses who are trained at universities very rarely enter nurseries – and there is no practice of internships in nurseries.
Every fifth nurse position in Sofia's nurseries is unoccupied, "Trud" listed. Due to a lack of staff, 34 nurseries in kindergartens have already been closed, and the shortage cannot be compensated despite the newly opened places in independent nurseries.
BTV sought the comments of experts and representatives of institutions about the lack of staff and at the same time full nurseries and kindergartens.
Antonina Kenova from the committee “For a quality and innovative educational system“ and advisor to the Ministry of Education and Science and the director of the 56th nursery school in Sofia - Stoyka Dimova.
„We, the citizens, have been raising the alarm about this problem for many years – at least for 5. We have repeatedly said that we will get to this point – to the closure of nursery groups due to the shortage of staff, but there is no state policy aimed at developing specialists to work with our youngest children“, said Antonina Kenova.
And she explained that for her it is right to start with education. She gave an example of how about 25 years ago there were nurses with a children's profile – aimed entirely at pediatric wards and nursery schools.
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„The staffing problem is truly ubiquitous – it's not just in nurseries, it's not just in kindergartens, even medical departments are being closed in hospitals. I think this problem can be solved. A practice should be introduced in nurseries, for example, the 56th nurseries should become a base for practice and attract young specialists. I think that with the Sofia Municipality and the Ministry of Health we would solve this problem so that we can attract more young specialists“, said Stoyka Dimova.
“Nurses who are trained at universities very rarely enter nurseries – there is no such practice, to do internships in nurseries“, agreed Kenova.
And she announced that a few days ago the SOS voted on the program “We Learn Together“ – which offers internships for students in kindergartens during the months of July and August.