Digital Literacy Bulgaria Project #38700

Prepare Bulgarian Kids for the Jobs of the Future

by Telerik Academy Foundation

Project Report | Mar 29, 2023
A brighter future awaits Bulgarian students

By Petar Sharkov | CEO

During the current reporting period at Telerik Academy School, we proudly ushered in the exciting year of 2023. As an organization that consistently dreams big, our ambitions continue to expand. Over the past few years, we have gained invaluable insights into the needs of the Bulgarian educational system, effective scaling strategies, and the cultivation of connections with potential supporters.

In February 2023, we convened a meeting with our most prominent partners to discuss our learnings, outline plans, and explore collaborative strategies for reaching even more students in Bulgaria. Below is a summary of the key topics discussed.

Accomplishments in the past 6 years:

Successfully provided 630 cohorts across 50 settlements in the country, enrolling over 14,000 students.
Engaged nearly 100 teachers in the current year, having trained over 250 throughout the years.
Dramatically expanded our partner network, now exceeding 140 entities, including companies, foundations, municipalities, schools, and educational organizations, as well as more than 500 individual donors.

Recognizing the immense importance of providing education in digital sciences, information technology, and programming to as many students as possible, we are determined to do more. While educating 3,000 children annually is a significant achievement, there are over 700,000 students in the system. Our ambitious goal for the next five years is to train nearly 30,000 students per year using our programs.

To achieve this, we acknowledge that our current model requires adaptation. Therefore, we are introducing a new approach, which involves integrating our programs into schools. Over the past two years, we have developed this model in collaboration with 15 schools across the country.

The updated model involves providing schools with a license to use our programs, training their teachers, and granting the schools the flexibility to incorporate the programs into their curricula as interest-based activities, new subjects, or supplementary material for existing IT lessons. This approach allows an unlimited number of students to benefit from our programs while giving schools the autonomy to make decisions that maximize their impact.

According to preliminary calculations, this model yields seven times greater impact for the same investment. For instance, in Burgas, seven schools have adopted our programs in their first year, teaching nearly 450 children. Our team is diligently working on a comprehensive plan to implement this model in additional schools across the country.

In our next report, we look forward to sharing more details and hearing your valuable feedback. Together, we can continue to elevate the Bulgarian educational system and empower students to reach their full potential.

Looking Ahead

For the 2023-2024 academic year, one of our primary objectives is to deliver 100 cohorts based on our current model. As we develop and refine the new model, it remains crucial to continue offering free cohorts throughout the country.

We aim to achieve this goal by the end of April, and we are grateful to our donors who have already secured 60 cohorts for the upcoming year. We sincerely hope that we can rely on your unwavering support in the forthcoming academic year as well.

Once again, thank you for your invaluable contributions to Telerik Academy School. We are honoured to embark on this journey together, preparing our students for the digital future that is already upon us. Your support is instrumental in shaping a brighter tomorrow for these young minds.

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Dec 1, 2022
Dynamic start of the new school year 2022/2023

By Petar Sharkov | CEO

Start of the school year - Shumen

It has been a dynamic start of the new school year at Telerik Academy School. We are happy to share the good news that all 140 cohorts are conducted onsite, and the students and teachers are more than happy with that fact.

As you know from previous reports, the most important thing for that period of the year is the successful start of our 2022/2023 school year.

September is the time when all students in Bulgaria have the opportunity to apply for one of our cohorts throughout the country. During our admission campaign, students from 3-12 grade could choose between interactive programs in the field of digital technology and programming, each with a duration of 72 teaching hours and corresponding to their age and interests. At the end of the campaign, we had over 4500 applicants. We received great support from different local partners, educational institutions, regional and national media and our key partners and donors.

During October and November, we launched 140 cohorts in 47 settlements in Bulgaria with more than 3000 students enrolled. It is too early to share with you something else than the emotions from some first meeting between our teachers and students

In summary, thanks to the support of all donors, partners, municipalities and teachers, this year we have:

Secured 140 cohorts
Cover 47 settlements in Bulgaria
Over 3000 students enrolled
Grow our teacher`s network to 101.

Honours for our collective efforts

In November, we were honoured in the "Agents of Change 2022" - a Bulgarian initiative for charity and positive change. Telerik AcademySchool received two awards - in the category "Team" and "Change in young people". These awards are coming thanks to our entire community of like-minded people, partners, teachers, parents and students. You are the engine of our efforts and successes.

Looking ahead

We are sure that this school year will be filled with many successes for our students. Our team is planning exciting initiatives and expansion of our impact in the coming years. Within the next report in March, we will share with you our action plan.

Christmas has always been a time for giving and once again, we want to say "Thank you" for your trust! Together, all year long we are giving thousands of students in Bulgaria the key to unlocking the door of the world of technology. We thank you for every donation that brings us closer to even more children and enriches their worldview

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year. We look forward to continuing to reshape the lives of children in Bulgaria step by step, it’s going to be a year of big and hopefully very positive changes.

Start of the school year - Haskovo

Agents of Change 2022-Petar and Vyara on the right

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Sep 1, 2022
Getting ready for the new school year

By Petar Sharkov | CEO

Since our last report in June, we were focused on the preparations for the upcoming 2022/2023 school year. Thanks to your support, we exceeded our goals, and have the funding to launch the record-breaking 140 cohorts in 47 settlements in Bulgaria, providing free digital skills and programming training to near 3000 students.

What we achieved

During the summer, we analyzed the past school year and confirmed the changes we want to make in our training process. Together, we managed to achieve the following milestones during this reporting period:

• Successfully concluded all cohorts for the 2021/2022 school year. You may take a look at our infographics, summarizing some key data from the year;

• We improved the model of our trainings and we make changes 3 areas – age groups, program duration and teachers’ remuneration

• We expanded our team of contractors to a total of 100 educators delivering our programs across the country;

• Finalized our funding campaign to achieve our ambitious plan to open 140 cohorts this year, attracting many new businesses, municipalities, and individual donors. We also retained most of our existing ones.

Our most important task this summer was to organize an extensive and exciting summer training program for our growing network of trainers. We combined our teacher training and annual retreat into one big event. It was held in the capital of culture Plovdiv from the 25th of July till the 2nd of August. This event prepared new teachers to understand our programs and methodologies. During the retreat, we prepared trainers for the administrative processes we follow. As a result, we inspired and charged them with positive energy for the new school year.

Explore new implementation models

As you know, during the last few years we tested and explored different financial models to increase our impact and reach more students. That is why we decided to try a model where we can implement our programs on a school level. The model is simple:

We give access to our programs and content materials within a license model

We prepare school teams of teachers to deliver the programs like the way we train our contractors currently

The schools provide access to our programs to their students within the MOES program and project models – such as “activities by interests “, creating a new subject as part of the “Innovative schools” initiative, curriculum for the STEAM centers or implementing elements of our programs and combining them with existing subjects.

Our first step in this direction is a partnership with the Municipality of Burgas. In 2022-2023 we are ready to launch the partnership with 7 schools. Our ambition in the coming few years is to test and scale that model, and after covering the most of the schools in Burgas, to work towards reaching every school in the country.

Looking ahead

On September 1st, we officially opened our admission campaign for the 2022-2023 school year. The applications will be held entirely online from September 1st until October 2nd and are open to students from 3-12 grades in 47 settlements in the country.

Students in 3-4 grades can take part in digital science cohorts, where they will improve their digital skills and lay the foundations of their knowledge for the world of technology.

Students in 5-11 grades can choose between 4 programs in the field of digital technology and programming, each with a duration of 72 learning hours and corresponding to their age and interests. Their format (online or in person) will be following the recommendations of the health authorities.

For 12 grade we prepared online courses for students from all over the country, who can apply for any of the three programs: Digital Science, Game Development and Web Development.

The trainings will be held within the academic year, starting from the end of October and will give the opportunity to nearly 3000 children and young people to study programming and digital sciences for free in our 140 groups throughout Bulgaria.

Thanks to your support we follow our mission - to introduce Bulgarian kids to the world of technologies and give them access to quality and modern education every year. The training contributes to building knowledge in programming and digital technology, not only through our trainings, but also through the daily practice of our teachers in schools, where they use elements and teaching methods from our programs. This way, the effect of the initiative is even bigger. Thank youfor your valuable contribution!

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