1 June 2008

The five month old Alexana from Sofia was the smallest visitor at the National Assembly Open Doors’ Initiative on the occasion of Children’s Day. The event was organized by the parliamentary Press service together with the Association “Bulgarian children and young people’s parliament”. Close to 940 children and parents visited the premises of the National Assembly on June 1st, marking the International Children’s Day.
National Assembly Deputy Chairperson Luben Kornezov welcomed the guests and told youngsters curious stories and facts about the building, the history and life in parliament. The forth grader from 97th Sofia school Mihail, rang the parliamentary bell and opened formally Parliament’s Open Doors for Children.
Prof. Kornezov told students in the plenary hall when and how was erected the building and about the first Bulgarian rulers Battenberg, Ferdinand and Boris III. I hope when you grow up, to come here and continue to build up Bulgaria, said the deputy speaker of parliament.

Hristo Kraevski, head of the parliamentary Press service announced that his department, in partnership with the” Student society for digital art “, is thinking to launch a multimedia project titled “Constitution for children with disabilities”, as a continuation of two past projects, namely “Learn about parliament” and “Constitution for children”.

Prof. Luben Kornezov conferred with young people from the Association “Bulgarian children and young people’s parliament” on the topic “Bulgarian Constitution”.

Young visitors at the National Assembly participated in a study launched by the National Center for the Study of Public Opinion. The results of the study among 300 children show a very high interest towards the main institution in the country. 95 % stated their need for more information regarding the running of parliament.

83 % of the study participants confirm that visiting parliament is the best way to get to know more about how it operates. For one third the best way to learn more would be through Internet and around 40 % wouldn’t mind to study about parliament at school.

42 % of young people found the plenary hall to be the most interesting and intriguing part of the visit. Every fifth participant in the event was impressed by the architecture and some 16 % liked very much the paintings exhibited throughout. Youngsters were delighted by the parliamentary bell and lusters as symbols of the Institution.
Two thirds stated that they would have appreciated to be able to speak in person with members of parliament.
The number of those who said they would like to become deputies was almost equal with the ones who would not. (49% versus 51%) The study shows that no bias towards the occupation of parliamentary member exists. This is proven by the number of visitors and by children’s interest regarding the institution, sociologists from NCSPO commented.

Children were asked what problems regarding them should be solved in parliament. The most frequent answer was the opportunity to have education on European level and secondly, among the group of the smallest attendants, that parliament should provide them with more sports and play grounds.

Among the young visitors were also students from a provincial school. All attendants received an information instructional booklet for children titled: “Our Parliament”.