History

HISTORICAL REFERENCE

ABOUT THE REGIONAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION – SOFIA-CITY

1303 Sofia, 17 “Antim І“ Str., tel. 02 935-60-50, fax: 02 987-04-18,

e-mail: [email protected], web address: http://www.ruo-sofia-grad.com http://www.ruo-sofia-grad.com

 

Regional Inspectorate Sofia-city with the Ministry of Education and Science was founded on 1st April 1990 under order № RD 14-11/27.03.1992 of the Minister of Education and Science to ensure the implementation of State policy in the sphere of education.

With a Ministerial decree №1/11.01.1999 /published in State Gazette, issue 96/11.05.1999/ regarding the functions and structure of the Ministry of Education and Science, the name has been changed to Inspectorate of Education. The provisions of the Rules of Procedure /published in State Gazette, issue 96, year 2000, amended in issue 11, year 2002/ regulate the functions of Inspectorate of Education with the Ministry of Education and Science as a regional representative institution of the Ministry of Education and Science engaged with management and control of the education system.

According to article 3 of the provisions it: - facilitates the development of kindergardens, schools and educational institutions on the territory of Sofia-city; - participates in the development of regulatory documents together with structural units of the Ministry of Education and Science; - develops programs for vocational education and training improvement; - coordinates the cooperation between institutions in the sphere of education and regional state institutions; - authorizes schools` proposals for state enrollment plan; - controls the implementation of state educational standards in state, municipal and private schools and kindergardens by taking part in the organization and conduct of: contests/interviews for the position “principal” of the institutions in the sphere of education, exams, conferences, olympiads and extracurricular school activities; - controls and provides coursebooks and school administrative documents and schools financial activity, etc. According to article 5 of the same Rules of Procedure the structure of the inspectorates includes the following units:  “Organizational support of the system of education”;  “Methodological support of the system of education”;  “Financial operations”. The Inspectorate is presented and managed by a director/head. The director/head plans and controls the activities of the institution, approves school and kindergarden documents, controls the performance of the experts and the principals of kindergardens and schools, etc. With Rules of Procedure /published in State Gazette, issue 61, year 2003/ in act from the 08.06.2003 the Inspectorate of Education is renamed to Regional Inspectorate of Education. Regional Inspectorate of Education is presented and managed by a director/head. The director is a government official appointed after a selection. The personnel of the Regional Inspectorate of Education includes government officials and employment contractors. By core responsibilities the administration is divided into general administration and specialized administration. General administration includes an “Administrative Legal Financial and Information Support” unit and specialized administration includes an “Inspection Organizational and Methodological Support” unit. Regional Inspectorate of Education is a local administrative body functioning under the Minister of education and science with the main responsibilities to manage and control the education system unchanged. On 13 October 2015 State Gazette, issue 79, publishes the new Educational Law for pre-school and school education. It comes into force on 1 August 2016. It renames the regional inspectorates of education to Regional Departments of Education. Regional Department of Education – Sofia-city is a local administrative body functioning under the Minister of education and science with main responsibilities to: - manage and control the system of pre-school and school education on the territory of Sofia-city; - provide methodological support to kindergardens, schools, local centres for support of the process of inclusive education and centres for support of personal development to implement state educational policy and the guidelines of the National Inspectorate of Education; - plan and facilitate local teacher qualification forms. Regional Department of Education is a delegated body of public authority budgeted by the Ministry of Education and Science.

The director/head of the regional department of education is a government official. The personnel of the regional departments of education consists of government officials and employment contractors. The minister of education and science is the government authority who employs the government officials in the regional departments of education. The director/head of regional departments of education employs the employment contractors. The director/head of regional department of education signs and terminates the contracts with principals of municipality schools, state nonspecialized schools, state and municipal centres for specialized educational support and astronomical observatories on the territory of Sofia-city. Rules of Procedure, ratified by the minister of education and science, defines the structure, functions and organization of operations in the regional departments of education (RDE). It is published in State Gazette, issue 13, 7 February 2017 and divides the operations of the administration in two units:

 General administration – “Administrative Legal Financial and Information Support” unit (ALFIS) which supports and facilitates technically the operations performed by the director/head of Regional Department of Education and the specialized administration. It privides administrative services to private individuals and legal entities and controls operations within its authority (functional characteristics);  Specialized administration – “Organizational Methodological Operations and Control” unit (OMOC) which supports the director`s/head`s operations, organizes, facilitates methodologically and controls the institutions in the system of pre-school and school education within its authority (functional characteristics) defined in article 14 of the Rules of Procedure of the regional departments of education.