EVENTS: Student playwriting competition marks Safer Internet Day 2012 (BULGARIA)

The Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) team has developed two lessons introducing the theme to the children: to motivate and help them think about various possible situations, which are resolved by co-operation between a child and an adult, and to provide them with a simple guide on how to develop a scenario. The prizes are smartphones from the Mobiltel mobile operator, multimedia sets from Microsoft Bulgaria, and a challenging experience together.

The Bulgarian SIC have already received about 40 scenarios from children of different ages and schools all over the country. The topic of connecting generations has been developed into various creative ideas. The children organised themselves and worked in teams together with their teachers and parents. Most of the topics are related to online risks. Initial observations are that most of the children are sensitive to the existing dangers online. A lot of the stories in the elaborated scenarios have a positive outcome: this shows children's belief in a safer online world.

The three best scenarios will be chosen by a jury and the winners will work with professional theatre directors to prepare themselves for performing on stage at the national SID 2012 event. The event will be held in a theatre in Sofia and, after a brief press conference, the winners will have their minutes of glory in front of the audience.

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EVENTS / CONFERENCES: Say NO! to cyberbullying (BULGARIA)

On 27 and 28 August 2011, an international conference titled ‘Say NO! to Cyberbullying’ took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. It gathered together school principals and teachers from nine cities and towns, and representatives and experts from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. The forum was jointly organised by the Madara-Bulgaria Foundation, the Department for Information and Qualification of Teachers at Sofia University and the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) at the Applied Research and Communications Fund.

Dr Stefania Dimitrova, Chair of the Madara-Bulgaria Foundation, presented several international studies on cyberbullying, including the EU Kids Online pan-European study from 2010. Through comparing the results, Dr Dimitrova demonstrated that, in the views of children and youth, e-violence is the most harmful risk they face online.

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NEWS / WORKSHOPS / ONEMINUTESJR: OneMinutesJr workshop in Bulgaria - Daily Diary, Part I

OneMinutesJr workshop in Bulgaria - Day 1

STARA ZAGORA, Bulgaria, August 29, 2011 - Fifteen boys and girls from a Roma neighborhood in Stara Zagora have come together this week to produce OneMinutesJr videos on their lives and their future.

In the next five days, the youngsters aged 9 to 14 will become producers, actors/actresses, cameramen/camerawomen and will produce their own personal messages in form of short videos. The workshop takes place in the Roma mahalla Losinets in the Northwest of Stara Zagora, the sixth biggest city in Bulgaria.

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ONLINE SAFETY / IT: Flashboy helps children stay safe online during the summer break (BULGARIA)

Summer is a season that is free of routines and strict schedules for kids and teens as well as for their parents and carers. The summer break relieves children from their student duties and responsibilities – rising early, spending their day in the classroom, doing homework and so on. Children have the opportunity to spend plenty of their time as they please. However, that lack of structure inevitably leads to more time spent in front of the computer in social networks, chats and online games.

As children spend more and more time on the internet, the probability of facing a risky situation grows exponentially. Although parents report increased anxiety towards their child’s behaviour online, they feel helpless in their efforts to take their children out of the virtual and back to the real world.

That was the motivation behind the Association Roditeli’s (the organisation in charge of the Bulgarian Helpline for Online Safety) initiative to organise a series of offline events promoting alternative free time activities for the whole family. It started in 2008 with Famillathlon – a celebration of family sports and healthy lifestyles.

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ARTICLES: Bulgarian TV channels featuring children in reality shows to face up to 60 000 leva fines

Television channels in Bulgaria that broadcast reality shows featuring children will be punished severely and will pay serious fines from now on, the Bulgarian Novinar reported on June 3 2010, citing draft amendments to the Television and Radio Act approved by the Parliamentary Culture Committee commission.

If television channels flout the rule, they will get an initial fine ranging from 15 000 to 30 000 leva. A repeat offence will cost the channel up to 60 000 leva, the report said.

The issue of having children in reality show formats, such as Big Brother, has proved very contentious with many observers protesting that allowing minors on such shows is contemptible.

The latest such show in Bulgaria – Big Brother Family – has been steeped in controversy even before its launch on March 22 2010 because of the inclusion of children.

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ARTICLES: Growing Up Roma

When I was nine years old I realized I was different and did not know why. I had always been a happy child. I had many friends in school. But this all changed in the fifth grade.

In Bulgaria, like many parts of Eastern Europe, Roma children often don’t have access to quality education. Roma children in segregated schools graduate without knowing how to read or write. In my hometown, we have a segregated primary school up until the fourth grade. That school was only 100 meters from my house but my mother would not let me go there. She knew I would not receive a good education and so she enrolled me at the public school for Bulgarian students.

Her decision was not easy. The trip to and from school was difficult. Even my father and my grandparents did not agree with her decision. They did not understand why I should go to a school so far away from my home and be separated from my cousins. But my mother knew why. She knew that education was key. My mother tried to protect me from being mocked by the children at school. My parents agreed only to speak to me in Bulgarian so that I would not develop an accent. But they could only protect me so much.

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NEWS / SOCIAL MEDIA: Bulgarian youth protest online for education reform

Under the title SOS - Спаси Образованието Сега (SOS - Save Our Education Now), through websites and social media as well as real-world action, Bulgarian youth have been running a campaign for the re-organisation of the country's higher education.

"We, Bulgaria's youth, believe that real economic growth is a hostage of education. Our schools and universities have been held frozen in time, in a fictional world where quality, competition and efficiency are unknown concepts," organisers of the campaign said on the campaign Facebook page.

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NEWS / RESEARCH: Over 1 in 10 Bulgarian teens declare computers are a source of happiness

45.2% of the Bulgarian teenagers consider that friends are most important to them for feeling happy and 30.9% choose the family. For 12.9% of the youth love is a source of happiness but 10.9% would rather prefer the computer. Good scores in school are far down in the rating – 3.8%, and learning makes happy only 1.9%.

These are the results of national representative online study conducted by the National Center for Protection of Public Health in the period July-October 2009 among 1,000 teenagers 13-18 years of age who have access to a computer.

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CONTESTS: Mladeshki videokonkurs na UNICEF (in Bulgarian)

Младежки видеоконкурс на УНИЦЕФ

УНИЦЕФ организира видеоконкурс по повод 20-годишнината от подписването на Конвенцията за правата на детето. Всички млади хора до 25 години могат да изпращат кратки видеа, които да представят тяхната визия за правата на детото на световно, национално или местно равнище.

Клиповете трябва да са с дължина точно една минута, и да са тясно свързани в правата на децата. Желаещите трябва да ги публикуват видеата онлайн на YouTube, Blip.tv, Dailymotion, Veoh, както и да ги изпратят на електронната поща на конкурса: unicef.crc.videocontest@gmail.com.

Изпратените видеоклипове ще бъдат оценявани от международни жури от медийни експерти. Най-доброто видео ще бъде излъчвано по цял свят в рамките на Международния ден на правата на детето 2010, както и на празненството по повод подписването на Конвенцията за правата на детето.

Крайният срок за изпращане на предложенията е 1 август 2009 г. Повече информация можете да намерите на интернет страницата на конкурса.

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