Teachers are to declare if they teach private lessons and directors of schools and kindergartens will be dismissed if they do not properly manage budgets delegated to them and if financial obligations of the school exceed approved yearly expenditures with more than 20 per cent.

This is what amendments to the National Education Act, which Government approved on January 17, envisage. These amendments were to be put forward in Parliament, mediapool.bg said.

If teachers do not declare private lessons they teach with the school director, they will be punished or even fired. Underperforming school directors risk having their contract terminated prematurely.

School leaving exams can no longer be appealed in court and become mandatory for all schools.

In recent years the Supreme Administrative Court has repeatedly delayed the introduction of general school leaving exams, arguing that education plans differed in different schools, mediapool.bg said.

So-called protected schools in small settlements with a minimum number of children would not be closed, but receive additional funding.