The first textbook written by high school students – the winners in the „High Start with Postbank” program, was presented at the official awarding ceremony of the program’s scholarship holders. Anthony Hassiotis, CEO of Postbank, and the winning students, presented the book, which contains the high schoolers’ ideas on the improvement of Bulgarian secondary education, to Milena Damianova, Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Science. The authors of the best essays on the topic “Chase boredom away from school” received a one-time scholarship worth BGN 1,000 from the program conducted under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science.
This year’s edition of the “High Start with Postbank” program distinguished 51 high school students with a total of BGN 51,000. Traditionally, the initiative is conducted under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science. Among this year program’s partners were also non-governmental organizations, working in the field of education and youths – the Bulgarian Donors Forum, Paideia Foundation, The National Network for Children and the Parents Association, as well as the Bulgarian National Television and Darik Radio.
“In its six years of existence, the program has established a successful formula for partnership between private business and the state. This year we relied on the support from non-governmental organizations and media as well, because we all have a common goal – an effective education system, which educates and nurtures Bulgaria’s future leaders. The new format of the “High Start with Postbank” program provoked dialogue, in which we gave the floor to the high school students. I believe that this dialogue will not stop here, but will continue and deepen further,” said Anthony Hassiotis, Postbank CEO.
The sixth edition of the program included students from the 8th to the 12th grade in high schools and specialized schools from 164 cities in Bulgaria. Around 2,000 high school students sumitted essays with their ideas for the development of high school education in the country. The jury that selected the winners included representatives of Postbank, partner organizations and the media. Best scores were granted to well-structured ideas with a description and a solution of a problem, applicability and originality of the idea, as well as excellent spelling and punctuation.
