On July 27, the day when Bulgarians pay honor to the spiritual and educational work of the Seven Apostles (Sveti Sedmochislenitsi), the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with a solemn conference in Sofia that brought together teachers and like-minded people from various countries and continents. Those who teach Bulgarian children around the world their mother tongue and instill in them the curiosity and desire to know about Bulgaria, spoke about their professional path, but also reiterated many questions that the state has not answered for a long time. Unfortunately, the current political crisis will further delay expected solutions.

Just like Bulgarians at home, compatriots around the world care about the future of Bulgaria, Snezhina Mecheva, spokesperson of the association and head of the Bulgarian school "Ivan Stanchov" in London, says and hopes that after the next elections work will continue in order to build on the achievements.

According to Snezhina Mecheva, the most important thing at the moment is finishing the long process of equalizing the status of Bulgarian language to that of the other languages of the European Union. This would mean that the grade from the matriculation exam in Bulgarian will be recognized when applying to study in a foreign university.

"In Strasbourg, the European Parliament made a recommendation to all EU members to do what is necessary on a bilateral basis, so that this process could be carried out to the end,” she recalls. “This is what we expect from the next ministers of education.”

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Tanya Hristova, head of the Bulgarian school "Paisiy Hilendarski" in the city of Limassol in Cyprus, points out problems such as lack of textbooks, curricula, etc.

"Another thing we are interested in is support for cultural events abroad,” she adds. “We are not only engaged in educational activities, but also organize festivals and cultural activities that require funds. We are grateful to the Ministry of Education and the association about the fact that all schools abroad are now quite well funded. However, we still do not have clarity about the extracurricular activities that are important for the Bulgarian community."

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Over 200,000 Bulgarians have returned home because of the coronavirus pandemic and their children need adaptation to our educational system, experts pointed out at the conference. However, this problem has never received the necessary attention from the state, Petya Tsaneva, founder and head of the first Bulgarian Sunday school "St. Ivan Rilski" in Madrid, says.

"It's mostly about equalizing the level of language knowledge with that of the other students in the class. For this purpose, schools in other countries provide help for children in order for them to progress.”

Petya Tsaneva also points out the need to create a Bulgarian institute in Spain "on the principle of the British Council, the Goethe Institute, the Cervantes Institute", to raise teachers’ salaries and to reduce the VAT on textbooks and teaching aids.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Policies for Bulgarians Abroad, Antoaneta Tsoneva, recommends that the money from the budget update in the autumn be used to provide funds for the rising costs, in order to avoid closure of schools abroad.

"We also need methodology, textbooks, electronic tools for teaching Bulgarian as a foreign language,” she says. “We already have first-graders in Sunday schools who were born abroad and although they understand Bulgarian, they need to study it as a second language. And this is completely different than working with a student with another type of knowledge of their mother tongue. I hope that all parties will include in their election programs the cause of Bulgarians around the world and that their rights and interests will be truly protected."

The Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad supports the activities of Bulgarian schools and educational centers outside the country and promotes the Bulgarian language and culture. Currently, there are nearly 400 Bulgarian Sunday schools in 40 countries on six continents.

Photos: Diana Tsankova

English: Alexander Markov