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25.03.2020The role of educational mediators during a state of emergency

The last days have been hard and difficult for all of us. We have to dramatically change our daily lives, get air-conditioned, and be mobilized and responsible.

We have to give up our lives for some time being as we used to be. And it's not easy for anyone. But while for some of us it is necessary to adjust, not to go out and work from home, others have to radically change our way of working and introduce completely innovative methods – the teachers. Many of them are now creating digital lessons for the first time and using different ways of working online with students. And this is not easy at all. Let's think about them.

Let us also think and be grateful to all the doctors, nurses and pharmacists who are in direct contact with the sick and the infected constantly. You really are heroes!

But I also want to think of another group of people who remain out of the sight of society but are just as brave and risk their lives every day - hundreds of educational mediators across the country. The truth is that not all children everywhere have the Internet or devices to use it. For these students, no matter how interesting and modern learning platforms are created, they will not be useful. Children from poor families, neighborhoods, or students with special educational needs – have been visited by educational mediators who bring them paperwork and explain to the kids how to get into electronic systems. Some schools have provided masks and protective materials for the mediators, but others do not yet have the opportunity. The director of High school "Lyuben Karavelov" in Varna told us that due to the depleted resource of masks in the city, the mediator Aydin Murshud does himself (?!) but does not stop visiting students. This is also the case in the village of Pet Mogili, where gloves and disinfectants are provided, which Silvia Miteva uses and distributes to people, but there are simply no masks, so she is also protected with handmade ones. School principals are looking for all kinds of sources for masks, but are frustrated by their exhaustion in the market. It is important that these people are urgently supplied.

Note that whatever the conditions are, none of these people refuses to work. Each of the educational mediators is aware of the seriousness of their task and is looking for various ways to help. For example, Boycho Kochev, a mediator in the village of Karadzhovo, Plovdiv district, uses chats and video calls to track how the children handle distance learning, help them with registrations, send homework and generally mobilize them to be serious.

Many more examples can be given anywhere. It is important to note the merit of these people. In addition to helping the children tirelessly, they go around the houses and talk to the adults explaining that they should stay home and stay safe. They keep track of alerts for returning from abroad and announce them to crisis staffs. They create online campaigns and are in constant contact with children and adults. They calm and inform. Their efforts are helping to keep the numbers of those infected from rising dramatically. And let us remind you, they are doing this by risking their lives.

So I want to invite you - tonight, if you go out on the balcony clapping at 9pm - think of these people, the educational mediators. Remember that they go from house to house to help us all. Remember that we are connected. The efforts of one are efforts for all of us. Accordingly, the irresponsibility of one affects all of us.

The good thing about hard times is that they remind us of the important things. And they teach us to be grateful. May today and in the coming difficult days that await us be grateful to all those who fight and help.

Let us also be grateful to all tireless educational mediators across the country!

 

Thank you!

Denitsa Ivanova

25.03.2020Schools from the Network “Every Student Will Be an Excellence” They joined in the sewing of protective masks.

With all the information we are currently flooding, it's hard to stay calm. It is difficult to be positive when you constantly listen to black statistics and every news and talk is related to COVID-19. Of course, it is quite normal for us to be interested and to be informed, and so it should be. However, in this period so difficult for all of us, we also need good news. We need hope.

That's why I'll try to give it to you today. Make you smile.

            Despite the isolation and the fact that we may have felt more distant, it is the time to show how much we care about each other. With every little (or bigger) thing we are useful to someone.

            Principals and teachers working in vocational high schools and schools with a Fashion Design profile also came to this conclusion. Granted and with great desire, after the huge shortage of masks across the country became clear, practitioners decided to act. They began researching patterns, searching for materials. And sew. And then donate. Just because they can.

            The director of the Vocational High School for Textiles and Clothing in Sliven Daniela Karamanova told us:

"We want to attract more people who have the opportunity to help with something - to do it. We are teachers and I think we should set a good example. So we decided to sew masks, the work is voluntary. The materials we use have been donated to us over the years by the companies we collaborate with and for educational purposes, but we can't use them anyways now. So far, we have donated to the municipality the volunteers who are helping it, thinking that the next ones will be for the nursing home in the city and Emergency. We will then donate to our fellow principals the current working teachers and mediators. We will sew until we have finished the materials.

It's scarier than the virus itself if we lose our human relationship to one another. Let's be as helpful as we can. "

            In the village of Pobeda, region. Dobrich workers in emergencies are already wearing masks and feel more at ease. Their source is the Dobri Voinikov United School, whose vocational training teachers, assisted by on-duty teachers, have engaged in a campaign to secure face masks. Professionals have been sewing for days and have already donated 60 pcs. for Dobrich municipality, 10 pcs. of the mayoralty of the village of Pobeda, for the employees of the post office, the local shop. The teams on duty will continue to work because parents come to the school with the desire to apply masks for their children and loved ones. Once done, they will be given as a gift, as will other institutions and people in the village.

Galina Toshkova, director of Dobri Voinikov United School: "Kindness, mutual assistance, and faith will save us in these days of trial."

Montana Vocational High School teachers also sew reusable face masks. More than 500 of them will be donated to those in need in the region. The initiative is for students, teachers and the school principal, and is supported by the Montana Regional Office of Education. They started even before the state of emergency when it became clear how serious the situation was in Italy. Then it comes to them to wear masks to become part of vocational training classes. After the students were discharged on part-time vacations, three teachers committed themselves to continue making protective masks. Methodology teacher Cornelia Yovkova, Marinela Mladenova, a practicing teacher and mathematics teacher with skills in the sewing profession Nina Georgieva cut and sew masks at home.

Angela Radionova Director of the Montana VSLI (Vocational School for Light Industry):

"I called the BRC Montana specialists for a design consultation. People explained exactly how they were made to be effective. We made an organization, bought fabric and started making them. With great enthusiasm we started, the cause is very good. The idea is to help socially disadvantaged, elderly people from homes, children in childcare centers deprived of parental care. The aim is to reach those who cannot buy them. \ "

The Vocational High School of Fashion Design in Veliko Turnovo is also not unfit. Teachers who are involved in the vocational training of students make tireless masks for days and go on. They plan to make 200 pieces that will be made available to educational mediators. Let me remind you that mediators are people who keep going (protected or not) from house to house to help children with disabilities, without devices or the Internet. So help for them is help for our children too…

            So for these quiet characters, I wanted to tell you today. There are certainly others we don't know about, but they help in their way. The trials are to overcome, and how much better it is when we do it together. And no, this time I don't mean physically together. And as each one thinks of the other. Let's protect each other. Let us help and be helpful with whatever we can. Whether as my characters above or by buying adult products; whether by being more attentive to ourselves and those around us, or simply by giving hope to a broken person.

 

Smile. There is hope.

 

Text: Denitsa Ivanova

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