Guided by the idea of preserving the Bulgarian spirit, culture and language, with 35 years of experience as a Bulgarian teacher and having worked in different European countries, in 2017, Iliana Boyajieva Smith founded a Bulgarian school in Chelmsford, Essex in the UK. She named it after a prominent figure in education from the Bulgarian National Revival Nayden Gerov. The school now has branches in London and in Canterbury, and since 2018 it has functioned following the Ministry of Education and Science programme “Native language and culture abroad”.  

The Bulgarian school Nayden Gerov is co-organizer of the conference “AI in education: The road to innovative teaching and learning”, opening in London on 4 April, and bringing together more than 60 representatives of Bulgarian schools abroad, university lecturers and education specialists. BNR’s Radio Bulgaria is a media partner of the initiative.

“Setting up a school is a difficult procedure,” says Iliana Boyajieva Smith. “I founded our school in Chelmsford in Essex. Even though there weren’t many Bulgarians living there, I decided their children deserved the opportunity of a Bulgarian education so as to preserve our language and culture outside of London. A little later we opened branches in London – almost in the city centre, near Greenwich, as well as in Canterbury in Southeastern England. During this school year we have 120 children attending.”

The Nayden Gerov school has a parent community, chaired by Irina Zdravkova. She has been living in the UK for 25 years, and for the past 15 years has been managing the finances of a major world corporation, but she still finds the time for the Bulgarian school. Irina’s own children also study the Bulgarian language. “We don’t have other relatives here, nor do we have a lot of Bulgarian friends we can communicate with,” she says. “I must admit the children have been making fantastic progress in the Bulgarian language, thanks to the school. Both my husband and I speak Bulgarian at home, so as to keep the language and the tradition alive.”

One of the young people graduating from the school this year is 17-year old Angel Todorov. He moved from Sofia to Great Britain in 2021. Angel has already graduated from his British school, and is currently studying Information Technologies in London - but he still goes to the Bulgarian Sunday school. “I enrolled at the Bulgarian school right after we came to the UK,” he says. “I knew that if we decided to move back to Bulgaria I would need a Bulgarian education. And when I graduate from university here I plan on going back to Bulgaria.”

Angel says he is delighted with the teachers at the Bulgarian Sunday school and thanked them for having invested the time and resource to help the coming generations. The teachers themselves are constantly honing their teaching skills and their knowledge. A good way to do this are the seminars and forums, organized by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad, bringing together teachers from the Bulgarian schools from all over the world. One such event taking place in London on 4 and 5 April will focus on how AI can help teachers in their everyday work.  

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos courtesy of Iliana Boyajieva Smith, Bulgarian school Nayden Gerov, UK