The bullying phenomenon and the “I am not scared” project in Bulgaria or how and why we need to influence the national school-education system

Violence in schools has been recognized as a growing and destructive problem both by educational and policy making authorities at a national level, as well as by the European Commission at an EU level. The graveness of the problem, some of its roots, because they can vary greatly from country to country, has already been analyzed and there are numerous proposals and programs for tackling with the problem or preventing its appearance. Still, political decisions and changes need to be encouraged in order to enforce, to make practicing from proposals and programs obligatory and official. These changes should and could happen in both directions – starting from the national level and reaching out to the Community level, or vice versa. The current and future effects for the Bulgarian school education system of a project - “I am not scared” – supported by the EC under the Lifelong Learning Program are briefly outlined in the present article.