27/01/2023 The National Assembly resolved to provide free textbooks and teaching aids for all students up to the 12th grade

27/01/2023

The National Assembly adopted at second reading amendments to the Pre-school and School Education Act, which stipulate that free textbooks and teaching aids will be provided for all students up to the 12th grade. The amendments submitted by MPs from the BSP for Bulgaria group were voted for unanimously.

According to the adopted provision, in the system of pre-school and school education, cognitive books, as well as textbooks and study sets and e-books for academic subjects and special subjects are provided free of charge to all children and students from grades 1 through 12. The changes shall enter into force as of the school year 2024-2025, the National Assembly resolved.

The amendments stipulate that the pedagogical council of every school shall adopt a school development strategy for the next 5 years with an annexed plan. Until now, the strategy was for a period of 4 years.

The National Assembly supported President Rumen Radev's veto and rejected the disputed text of paragraph 24 of the amendments to the Energy Act. By decree, the head of state returned the provision to parliament for further discussion.

Paragraph 24 of the Law amending and supplementing the Energy Act deviates from the EU-wide framework, hindering its socio-economic benefits in Bulgaria, as stated in the President's motives. The provision provides for the financial settlement, prepared by the electricity grid operator, to be carried out at a one-hour interval by the end of 2023, while the European requirement is for this interval to be 15 minutes, as stated in the motives.

The Parliament adopted at a second reading amendments to the Forestry Act. The final texts, drafted by the MPs, incorporated parts of the three originally submitted bills - by Desislava Taneva from GERB-UDF, Ivan Ivanov from BSP for Bulgaria and Ivan Hristanov from We Continue the Change.

Earlier, MPs adopted at first reading four of the five bills for amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). In the plenary the amendments proposed by MPs from Revival parliamentary group and MPs from We Continue the Change parliamentary group, as well as the two draft amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code submitted by the Council of Ministers received support. The proposals to amend the code, submitted by MPs from Democratic Bulgaria, were rejected.