12.05.2022

760 INTERNET CLUBS FOR E-LEARNING FOR OVER 50S ARE BEING OPENED

Already this year, the state will invest funds to open 760 digital clubs across the country, where seniors over 50 will be able to learn computer skills. The intention is enshrined in the National Action Plan for Employment in 2022, and the financing itself is set in the Plan for Reconstruction and Sustainability of Bulgaria, funded by the EU Fund for Reconstruction and Sustainability.

These clubs will be created under a project for a single virtual platform for adult education in an electronic environment, which is planned for this year. The clubs will be equipped with modern computer and other equipment plus internet access, so that the elderly and unemployed Bulgarians would join online training, assisted by mentors. The idea is especially important for those working in agriculture, where there is a great need for online training for people in the second and third ages.

Digital clubs will be open to free access, with priority being given to disadvantaged people, including people who do not have their own equipment and internet.

The construction of the platform will expand the access and opportunities for quality adult education and will allow training at any time and from any place. The virtual platform will bring together electronic learning opportunities and resources, set quality criteria for the online training provided and ensure traceability, monitoring and quality control of training.

Data from the labor offices for 2021 show that the economically inactive population in Bulgaria aged 15-64 has exceeded 1.227 million people, compared to 1.226 million in 2020. The relative share of all registered unemployed increased by 4 percentage points , to 23.6% at the beginning of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. Lack of qualifications and low education in more than half of the long-term unemployed is the main reason that hinders the faster decline in the number of long-term unemployed.

The downward trend in unemployment in the 50+ group, which has been observed since 2015, was interrupted in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021 it resumed its downward trend. The average monthly number of adults over the age of 50 is 74,652 - 19,437 less than in 2020. Their relative share of all unemployed is 41.1%, an increase of 2.2 percentage points. annually.

That is why in 2022 our country will focus on European lifelong promise programs and policies for learning by older people. The European Adult Learning Program and the Recommendation on Skills Development and the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE) will provide methodological support to professionals involved in the adult learning sector by combining online and offline events, conducting various training webinars , as well as methodological support to the newly established regional coordination groups for the development of regional analyzes and programs, is already written in the National Action Plan for Employment in 2022.