The Know-How Center for the Alternative Care for Children led a working conference on ‘Interinstitutional Cooperation in Implementing an Integrated Tool for Assessing the Needs of a Child at Risk of Dropping out of School’ in July. The conference was held at the training centre of the Ministry of Education and Science in order to present the tool, which was tested by 10 schools and child protection departments, to gather feedback on their experiences with it, and to answer questions that arose during its implementation.
Several district heads and representatives from the State Office of Education participated, as well as directors from the Regional Social Assistance Directorate, and chiefs of Child Protection Departments from regional cities. The participants were extremely active and interested in the practical application of the tool, especially in schools and in dealing with dropouts.
Deputy Minister Denitsa Sacheva took part in the conference and confirmed the interest and the will of the Ministry of Education and Science to put the integrated tool for assessing the needs of children at risk of dropout into practice in schools. She assessed the implementation of the tool as a good opportunity to increase the competences and quality of work of professionals, and as an opportunity to create multidisciplinary interaction between the educational and social system in dealing with a child at risk of dropping out of school. Maya Vasileva, Deputy ASA Executive Director, also supported the Agency's decision to actively participate in the implementation of the instrument to unite resources between the educational and social systems in dealing with children at risk.
The conference also focused on early prevention of risks for children, which would distance them from the protection system.
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