  6. The practice of imposing punishments other than the statutory ones should be discontinued; The NPM would like to receive further information on the investigation into child abuse allegations involving student A.H. ‘HRISTO BOTEV’ SPBS, VILLAGE OF DRAGODANOVO, SLIVEN PROVINCE 6.1. Physical Environment and Equipment The ‘Hristo Botev’ Social and Pedagogical Boarding School (SPBS) in the village of Dragodanovo, Sliven province, is about twenty-three kilometres (some 14 miles) away from the city of Sliven. The remoteness of the SPBS from the city impedes the process of children’s resocialization and prevents also frequent visits by family members. The NPM believes that the isolation of the children at the boarding school in Dragodanovo will have a negative impact on their psychosocial development. At the time of the NPM visit to the ‘Hristo Botev’ Social and Pedagogical Boarding School in Dragodanovo, there were a total of thirty-children held there – nineteen boys and seven girls. Three had escaped and were on the loose, one was listed on the national wanted persons system, and another one had failed to return after summer vacation. The SPBS is housed in two separate buildings. The first one is a two-storey school building including on the ground floor one classroom, a cooking and food preparation room, a gym, and a kitchen. Situated on the second floor are four classrooms, an art therapy room, a computer room, and the psychologist’s office. The second building is the dormitory. The children’s bedrooms contain minimal furniture – just a wardrobe closet or a cabinet, which are not sufficient to meet the children’s needs. The rooms have no private sanitary facilities. There are two common sanitary facilities on the second and on the third floor. The condition of the kitchen and the refectory was good. As was evident from the weekly menus, the calorific value of the food was insufficient, the meals appeared to be unvaried and the intake of dairy products, meats, and fruits was also insufficient. There were CCTV cameras installed in all corridors, and there was also outdoor security. 6.2. Education and Training The SPBS in the village of Dragodanovo provides education to children from grade 2 through grade 8. The school had formed three composite classes. The first one was a multi-grade class serving second through fourth grade students. The second was a composite grade 5 and 6 class serving fifteen children. Ten students attended the seventh and eighth grade combo class. The NPM established once again that most children were illiterate despite holding a certificate of completed grade five or grade six. In talking to the children, they shared their preference for more extracurricular activities, as well as for various social activities. It was observed that the sports equipment in the gym and on the sports ground was outdated, worn out and did not satisfy sufficiently the children’s needs. This had necessitated the use of another school building for conducting sports activities and events. Four children had special educational needs and visiting specialist resource teacher assisted their classroom teachers. 6.3. Medical Care 66