Bulgarian Schools Must ‘Win Back’ Children’s Attention from Devices: Education Minister
Jerusalem, 12 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Chirpan (BTA) – It is important for students to spend less time in front of screens and phones, because it turns out that this is one of the main reasons for eroding motivation to study mathematics and natural sciences. This was stated by the outgoing Minister of Education and Science, Krasimir Valchev, to journalists in Chirpan.
According to him, on average, students spend three hours a day in front of devices, of which over two hours are on social networks. “This has an extremely harmful effect on the brain and its development, on the eyes, concentration, but this is also wasted time. These two hours could be used for movement, sports and other more useful things,” said Valchev.
The outgoing Minister of Education and Science noted that this is where the big challenge for both teachers and the system, as well as parents, comes: to “win back” the attention of children and fight off phones, which are much more interesting. Valchev noted that there are addictive elements embedded in video content. “The algorithms are designed to make people spend more time in front of the screen,” he said.
The outgoing Minister of Education pointed out that artificial intelligence will not replace the teaching profession, but explained that it will be used more and more often by all students and parents. “Teachers are using it fruitfully – to create resources and electronic lessons,” said Valchev.
According to him, the Ministry of Education and Science has already developed a training program for all teachers in the use of artificial intelligence, and during an upcoming digitalization project, the so-called own educational artificial intelligence will be developed for the purposes of Bulgarian education from a closed model. According to Valchev, great attention is needed with regard to the use of artificial intelligence by students, since older children prepare themselves at home after school and it is tempting for each of them to use it. He also explained that the method of the so-called flipped classroom is increasingly expanding – it is flipped not physically, but in terms of time. This means that at home, students prepare their lesson themselves, after the teacher assigns them to study the topic and prepare themselves, and in the classroom to explain how much they have learned and understood – to discuss the topic, Krasimir Valchev emphasized.
Regarding the exam after the seventh grade, the outgoing Minister of Education explained that there will be no changes at the moment . “The sensible decision at the moment is to take this step back – it will be a minimal step back, since the step forward was also such,” explained Krasimir Valchev. He added that these six tasks, which were planned to be in natural sciences, will remain practical. In his words, this means transforming a practical situation into a mathematical expression. The difference will be that concepts from natural sciences will not be included.
The outgoing Minister of Education pointed out that the basic problem in Bulgarian education is that children lose their inclination to study mathematics and natural sciences around grades 4-5-6. One of the reasons is that the system does not provide enough hours for these subjects and they are not interested enough. But he said that it is STEM centers that largely increase the motivation to learn when they work, do experiments and learn through practical exercises, and this gives an effect. “But it is important to change the assessment and for students to know that it is valuable to study natural sciences,” said Krasimir Valchev.
He recalled that the Ministry of Education and Science has also made a number of changes regarding higher education, such as free training in the field of “Nursing” and linking medical training to contracts for implementation in medical institutions.
“All these policies must continue, because one of our biggest challenges to socio-economic development is the age imbalance crisis and the shortage of people. Over 100 thousand people retire annually, and 60 thousand are young people who replace them,” he said. He added that there is a widespread shortage of personnel in all spheres and systems in our country, but the biggest problem is in industries. Valchev said that if industries cannot provide themselves with human resources, this will greatly undermine socio-economic development in our country.
