News

7 November 2023

Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva refers the Minister of Education and Science Galin Tsokov, the Minister of Health Hristo Hinkov, the Minister of e-Government Aleksandar Yolovski, and the chairpersons of the relevant parliamentary committees on education and health Krasimir Valchev and Kostadin Angelov regarding the numerous complaints, alerts and petitions received at the institution from parents, teachers, civil society organisations, general practitioners and medical specialists, who are dissatisfied with the new electronic excuse notes for pupils.

Everyone is concerned about the inefficient system and the poorly considered approach to excusing students’ absences from classes, accompanied by administrative and financial burdens on parents. The reason is that instead of saving  them time, effort and walking from one place to another for a piece of paper, the process of issuing the digital excuse note actually increases bureaucracy and annoys everyone involved in the chain.

The parents rightfully claim that this regulatory requirement is not in line with the current health system and that even if their child recovers earlier, he/she must comply with the time limit indicated in the e-note. Their call for a quality e-service is backed by the National Network for Children, the Bulgarian Paediatric Association and the National Association of General Practitioners.

The Ombudsman also describes the most common problems encountered by those involved in the chain. One of them is that the issuing of notes does not fall within the basic package of activities covered by the budget of the Health Insurance Fund. Thus the fees, determined by the general practitioners themselves, vary from BGN 2 to BGN 10.

Another difficulty in issuing the notes is the outpatient sheet, for which the explicit presence of the child is required, but very often mild seasonal viruses do not need special medical assistance, and the child should only stay at home for 2-3 days.

A problem, especially in more severe weather conditions, is when the child and the general practitioner live in different settlements, and that these notes cannot be issued by specialists, by hospital establishments and by emergency centres due to the lack of electronic connectivity with the school systems.

Also problematic is the poor internet connectivity of the system links or when the notes are not recognized by the school system and the parent has to visit the general practitioner again.

The problem is that a note is required even for preventive examinations by certain specialists, for example orthopedists.

Parents also complain that when they go to a specialist, they are given a paper outpatient sheet, and then they have to return to their GP for the excuse e-note. In addition, there are many patients waiting in front of the general practitioners’ offices, which further irritates all patients.

In order to address some of the problems, the Ombudsman insists that short-term absences of a child, which do not require a longer period of absence for health reasons, be excused on good grounds with a parental note, and that electronic notes for medical reasons be required only after a thorough medical examination for a longer period of absence.

The Ombudsman also draws attention to the need for an annual limit on absenteeism by pupils and for the duration of absenteeism in days to be determined after hearing all parties.

”This approach would also build a trusting relationship between the school and the parent and would improve communication between them, because electronic registers and messages to the parents have to some extent limited the live connection between teacher and parent”, writes Prof. Kovacheva.

She also insists on dropping the formal requirement to “carry” contact notes, which puts further pressure on the chain.

 “Issuing of a medical note to a child/pupil in absence from a nursery/chool due to illness should be included in the package of medical examination activities covered by the budget of the Health Insurance Fund”, is another recommendation of the public defender.

Prof. Kovacheva alerts the responsible authorities as a matter of urgency to prepare amendments to the Ordinance on inclusive education of 27 October 2017, Ordinance No 3 on health requirements for kindergartens of 5 February 2007 and Ordinance No 26 on the structure and operation of nurseries and child kitchens and health requirements thereof of 18 November 2008, to allow the excuse of short-term absences for medical reasons by a parent, aligning the regulatory requirements for the permissible number of absences.

 “As Ombudsman, I have always emphasised the importance of digitalisation, which should ensure easy, accessible and reliable procedures for citizens, but this should be done after testing the electronic systems, after analysing the risks and challenges, so that citizens should not be participants in an experiment again”, notes the public defender.

In addition, Kovacheva also points out that systematic absences can be due to non-medical reasons, such as vulnerability, poverty, distance from school, lack of transportation links, which requires other comprehensive measures.