Back in class and back to the Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad

To preserve Bulgarian roots among the younger generation of compatriots abroad, and also to preserve the Bulgarian language, memory and culture among the heirs of Bulgarian emigration – this is the huge mission of Bulgarian schools around the world. Most of the Bulgarian Sunday schools in Europe, the USA and Canada have already celebrated their fifteenth, even twentieth anniversary, and this is a sign that we have serious educational and cultural institutions, whose work we should take seriously and with even greater attention, the Association of Bulgarian Sunday Schools Abroad reminded during its annual forum this summer in Veliko Tarnovo.

The Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad celebrates 18 years since its foundation

"The Bulgarian Sunday schools are created by local associations and foundations of Bulgarians living abroad. These structures also include folklore groups, which Bulgarians show great interest in; not only students but also parents are involved. All this also arouses curiosity in the relevant foreign community that surrounds us," said Dr. Maya Padeshka, a teacher at a Bulgarian school in Rome and a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Bulgarian Sunday Schools Abroad, in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. She expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Education and Science, because without the support of the Bulgarian state, Sunday educational centers could not exist.

Currently, the Bulgarian Ministry of Education has three national programs aimed at developing and maintaining the Bulgarian language and culture abroad - "Native Language and Culture Abroad", "Untold Stories of Bulgarians" and "Bulgarian Educational Routes". There is a great deal of interest in the topics presented in this way by Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad.

Vice President Iliana Iotova during the forum The Untold Stories of Bulgarians

For example, through "The Untold Stories of Bulgarians", even the smallest Sunday schools abroad are becoming a kind of center for scientific research. Students establish contact and interviews with prominent fellow Bulgarians in the respective country, thus delving deeper into history and discovering Bulgarian traces back in time. "These schools are writing the history of Bulgarian culture and Bulgarian emigration at the moment," claims Dr. Maya Padeshka.

According to her, there is a very serious step forward in terms of Bulgarian language education in schools abroad, but new research efforts are also needed in order for these schools to increase their quality and create adequate programs, aids and textbooks that are of practical benefit to teachers.

18th annual meeting of the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad

These are important things, because the methodology of teaching Bulgarian for Bulgarians abroad is not the methodology of native language teaching, but it is not the methodology of foreign language teaching either. Therefore, a new scientific basis must be established on which all new legislative initiatives can be based - this opinion was also shared by the participants in the 18th Annual Meeting of the Association of Bulgarian Sunday Schools Abroad, which was held in mid-July this year, and was attended by some of the founders of the Association, such as Mrs. Snezina Mecheva from England and Boyanka Ivanova - a long-time teacher in the USA. Schools are not the only members of the Association, Dr. Maya Padeshka tells us:

"We also attract many physical members – people directly connected to the cause of Sunday schools and who help immensely. Among the organizers of our annual meeting from Veliko Tarnovo University - Professors Tsenka Ivanova and Maria Ilieva are already members of our association. These are the new directions that we are following – towards openness, transparency and the search for closer ties with our members. Our calendar is very rich. This is also visible from the Association's website – many events are organized by our members."

A large part of the Bulgarian children in Sunday schools abroad graduate with a good level of proficiency in the Bulgarian language, albeit in a foreign language environment, explains Dr. Maya Padeshka. And with the Bulgarian as a Foreign Language Test, they can apply to universities in Bulgaria, since the results of it are accepted as an entrance exam. According to her, the Sunday school teams are "fighting" for every child who wants to continue their studies and study at a higher education institution in Bulgaria. But this is proving difficult because there is a discrepancy between obtaining diplomas abroad and the deadlines for applying in Bulgaria. This problem was raised at a special meeting of the parliamentary Education Committee in Sofia", shared Dr. Padeshka, herself a lecturer at a university in Italy and director of the Bulgarian Sunday school "Assen and Iliya Peykovi" in Rome.

She also commented on the constantly growing number of schools abroad - the list approved by the Ministry of Education and Science for the 2025/26 academic year lists 277 schools, many of which have two or more branches:

"The number of schools is indeed increasing, but the number of children in them is still small compared to the total percentage of children of Bulgarian origin in places. Unfortunately, this depends solely on the will of the families, so we need to work with them and a motivating role in this direction should be played by the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, which should work together among Bulgarian communities around the world", explains Maya Padeshka. Our schools really give a lot, not only in terms of passing on the tradition, they give one more language, one more culture.

The Ministry of Education and Science listened to our proposals for creating adequate curricula for our students and this happened at the beginning of this year, when the new curricula for Bulgarian as a second language were approved. For the first time, at the insistence of our community, programs for preschool stages (4-6 years old) have also been approved. Many children come to us at this age, and this is a very important period of adaptation to the Bulgarian language, active listening."

However, everything is in the hands of the parents, who must have the desire and dedicate personal time to take their children to a Bulgarian school. Sometimes the distances are great, but the distance learning forms that many schools abroad offer also help, Maya Padeshka believes.

Read also: