Listen Up, Sofia
The project sets up including classrooms and a centre for the deaf to provide children with hearing impairments with an education designed to meet their special needs.
Project Background
In Bulgaria there are about 120,000 people with hearing disabilities. Access to education is particularly difficult for the approximately 5,000 – 7,000 children affected. There are only three special schools for hearing impaired and deaf children in Bulgaria, which can accommodate about 500 children. As a result, most of them have to attend a regular school that is not specialized in supporting these children. In most cases the teachers and classmates do not speak sign language, which makes it almost impossible to communicate with each other. This in turn results in the fact that these children are denied equal access to education and can hardly participate in social life.
In the project in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, a classroom and a centre for the deaf will be set up to provide children with hearing impairments with an education tailored to their special needs.
Our Impact
The project aimed to sustainably and significantly improve the living conditions of people with hearing disabilities in Bulgaria. To achieve this, employees of Lufthansa Technik in Sofia collaborated with the Listen Up Foundation to develop a multi-faceted concept.
Regular school classrooms were equipped with specialized technology to better integrate and support children with hearing impairments. Additionally, educational institutions already dedicated to inclusion received further technical resources to strengthen their work. Various educational and awareness programs were also carried out.
A dedicated Deaf Center was established to train therapists and educators working with hearing-impaired children. The project further included teacher training focused on inclusive education.
In addition to providing technical equipment, supporting inclusive institutions, and establishing the center, the initiative emphasized political awareness. It aimed to sensitize decision-makers to the needs of people with hearing impairments and promote long-term structural change. The project received active support from the Sofia city government and Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education and Science.
