After the start of the school year – in Bulgaria it is always on 15 September – comes the start of the new academic year for university students, with most higher educational establishments in the country opening doors on 1 October. In that two-week interval we take a look at Bulgarian education, as seen by the people directly involved in the process – teachers.

Even though teachers have a key role to play, part of society still does not have an understanding and respect for the work of the people involved in the process of education. Even though teachers’ salaries were raised several times, schools in Bulgaria are still understaffed, with secondary school teachers in mathematics, physics, Bulgarian language and literature, specialized subjects and foreign languages in greatest demand. “I feel sure that all headmasters and schoolteachers know very well what the problems in the system are but they meet up with resistance in society,” says Prof. Hristo Bondzholov, former rector of the University of Veliko Turnovo Saints Cyril and Methodius and lecturer at the university over many years.


“We used to be together – teachers, parents, students, and there were results. Now there is resistance with the public admonishing teachers, constantly giving examples of education in Europe and in the US without ever having set foot there. What the public don’t want to see that this is a beaten path, that the system of education was invented a long time ago. In a neighbouring Balkan country teachers – whether at school or at university – are held in very high regard. When I was rector of the university I would turn to the students with several simple words like: Good morning, hello, please. Words that are first learnt at home, then at school, and after that at university, and if the students have not learnt these important things, then our system of education is not developing as it should. There is no point in educating a person who is ill-mannered, that only makes matters worse.”

There are, as yet, no objective indicators of the quality of education in a given educational establishment. As regards universities – it is of paramount importance that there is clarity with regard to the professional career of the students once they graduate from the university with a given degree, says Prof. Hristo Bondzholov says and raises a pressing problem:

“As a result of some incongruities, there are more than 1,000 teaching vacancies in the country. Around 1,000 teachers graduate from our university alone, so where do all these people go afterwards? And if they do not start work as teachers why do we keep getting the same number of admissions for teachers? What is the point? I believe it is a mistake to give the specious reasoning that this will help young people so they do not emigrate, while it is in fact interfering with the system. The lines in the hierarchy at universities are being blurred - between assistant,associate professor, professor. Assistants on temporary contracts are even given the same social security as associate professors, even though the difference between them is at least 20 years of experience. It would be better to provide better pay to professionals, not to people who could leave the system any time in the future,” says Prof. Bondzholov.

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova

Photos: BGNES, Ani Petrova, Gergana Mancheva, Pexels