Education Minister Valchev: Today's Bulgaria Still Needs the Lesson of 1876

Kaloyan Kirilov

Education and Science Minister Georgi Valchev, at the Regional History Museum, Vratsa, May 31, 2026 (BTA Photo/Lyubomira Filipova)

Vratsa, Northwestern Bulgaria,

31.05.2026 17:05

(BTA)

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Vratsa – THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1876 APRIL UPRISING

The present situation is not much different from 1876, when the April Uprising broke out, Education and Science Minister Georgi Valchev said on Sunday. Valchev was speaking at a Vratsa Municipality discussion on the 150th anniversaries of the uprising and Hristo Botev’s detachment.

Also joining the discussion were Bulgarian National Television’s current affairs programme Panorama producer and host Boyko Vassilev, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, and a number of students, teachers and public figures from Vratsa.

Valchev told the audience that the present situation was not much different from 1876. Bulgaria was part of Europe but was still not well enough known. At that time, the young people who took the hard decisions to sacrifice their lives wanted to show that, in the Balkans, alongside the Serbs, Romanians, Montenegrins and all the others, there was also a Bulgarian people. They told that story in a harsh, difficult way, but they marked the consciousness of all Europe, which understood that Bulgarians were no less significant and worthy of independent existence, Valchev added. In his words, Bulgaria needs to reopen that conversation so that Bulgarians do not keep themselves small or see themselves as second-class people.

“During the tribute at Milin Kamak on Sunday, I saw the long column of marchers from all over the country. It was very impressive when we looked at that enormous chain of young people, even families with very young children. This gives reason for optimism,” Valchev added.

During the transition years, Bulgaria went through many hardships, with ruined lives and divided families, but the time had come to decide what Bulgarians wanted to be, how they wanted to develop and where they wanted to go. Valchev said he pinned his hopes on Bulgaria’s young generation. Young people now can travel, compare and see for themselves that Bulgaria is wonderful, Valchev added. In his words, the way Bulgarian families bring up their children is key. Valchev said he saw an energy awakening to help the constructive prevail. Bulgarians can never achieve unanimity, there should be alternatives and different solutions, but it is important that they all unite around the view that the time has come for building, not destruction, Valchev said.

The meeting continued a series of discussions linked to the 150th anniversary of the April Uprising, which began late last year in Ruse and Giurgiu, Romania, and took place in Vratsa, Sliven, Panagyurishte and Veliko Tarnovo. They were organized by BTA as part of the Bulgarian National Television, BTA and Bulgarian National Radio initiative 14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe, which marks anniversaries in Bulgarian history that are significant for shared European history through 2032, when 1,400 years will have passed since the establishment in 632 of the first Bulgarian state formation on European territory, Old Great Bulgaria.

/KT/