The Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science has come out with proposal that Bulgarian should be studied as a foreign language when non-native, said Yanka Takeva, chair of the Bulgarian Teachers' Union, in an interview with BNR-Varna on Tuesday, 29 August. Takeva described the idea as extremely dangerous. She and the chairman of the Roma Foundation "Amalipe" Deyan Kolev are among the few in the working group who are against this proposal.

According to Takeva, this will lead to greater segregation of communities. Children of migrants and of different ethnicities should receive language support and have additional lessons in Bulgarian. Under no circumstances can our official language be studied as a foreign language in our country, Takeva statedyesterday. She gave as an example other countries where foreign children catch up with language training in order to integrate more easily.

There are over 2,000 Ukrainian children in Bulgaria who are already covered by the educational system. Some of them are integrated into Bulgarian schools, and others attend online classes according to the Ukrainian system, Takeva said.

In a position issued today, the Ministry of Education and Science states that the information about the study of the Bulgarian language as a foreign language when non-native that has appeared is a harmful and dangerous speculation and is connected with the upcoming local election. “In no form and at no time has the teaching of the Bulgarian language as a foreign language, or via another language been on the agenda,” the statement reads. The Ministry of Education and Science states further that, for almost ten years, according to the current standard of Bulgarian language teaching, the only existing definition is “teaching the Bulgarian language as a foreign language to migrant children and pupils, and children and pupils who are applicants for and beneficiaries of international protection”.