113 youths nationwide were supported in school year 2018/2019 by Amalipe Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance in completing their secondary education by providing them with bus cards and textbooks. Equal Chance is a long-term initiative of Trust for Social Achievement Foundation.
The students receiving support are of poor backgrounds, reside in villages and small towns and attend secondary or vocational schools in larger towns or cities.
The long-term support for these students results in improved school performance and enhanced motivation. It is crucial both for preventing their dropout from the education system on account of the distance to school and for the optimal development of their potential. One of the students we are most proud of – Ruska Nikolova – was a part of Equal Chance for the entire duration of her secondary school studies. She kept earning high grades during all four years of secondary school, but she also never stopped cultivating her skills and talent and never gave up proving herself. She has chosen to continue her studies at Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski”, majoring in Software Engineering. She is a prize-winner for Civic Education on Human Trafficking. This year the secondary school graduate has decided to develop another talent of hers. “To me writing is a passion, it is fervour, ardour. This is exactly how I feel it and I sense the need to write,” shared Ruska. That was precisely why she had registered for a Creative Writing course at Syndicate Modern Academy of Arts.
The Creative Writing seminars soon brought about another success for Ruska who ranked second at an essay writing competition on Man at the Heart of the Universe.