2025/2026 School Year Opens Nationwide; Focus on Teachers, Language Support and STEM

Kaloyan Kirilov

First day of school in Dobrich, September 16, 2024 (BTA Photo/Pavlina Zhivkova)

Sofia,

15.09.2025 20:45

(BTA)

The 2025/2026 school year began in over 2,300 schools nationwide on Monday, bringing around 57,000 first-graders into classrooms among more than 716,000 students and 95,500 teachers, while national institutions marked the occasion with messages, visits and targeted support for families and learners.

In his greeting for the first day of school, Education Minister Krasimir Valchev praised school as a place that shapes citizens. “School gives us not only knowledge, but much more. It teaches us to be active and responsible, people with values who can think critically and defend their positions,” Valchev said. “Today, we all celebrate knowledge together, pay tribute to teachers, and enjoy the smiles of children,” he added.

Opening the year at Elin Pelin Primary School No. 83 in Sofia, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov called school the State’s most important social service. “Teachers are the most respected people in our society, because they impart wisdom, knowledge and virtues to our children,” Zhelyazkov said. He pointed to investment in facilities exceeding BGN 2 billion, the spread of STEM labs, and work to bring more children back to class.

The head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church issued a message that placed faith alongside learning. “At school, we learn how to love,” Patriarch Daniil said, adding: “Darkness disappears in light – the brighter the light, the more the darkness fades; knowledge drives out ignorance – the more complete the knowledge, the further ignorance retreats.”

At two Sofia schools, President Rumen Radev spoke of shared purpose. “It is the day when our children set out on the bright path of knowledge,” Radev said, commending strong traditions, innovative teaching and rich extracurricular life that nurture both intellect and spirit.

Support for families accompanied the new term. The Labour and Social Policy Ministry granted one-off assistance for school expenses to nearly 145,000 children, with BGN 150 already paid to more than half and the second BGN 150 due at the start of term two for regular attendance; applications remain open until October 15.

Parliament Chair Nataliya Kiselova added a call for healthy habits and focus. Education is “the only guarantee for a better and dignified life in society,” Kiselova said, warning that “Skipping class is not a healthy sport.”

Education also started behind bars. Schools within the prison system enrolled 839 inmates, including 38 first-graders and 30 school-leavers, with curricula aligned to national standards and vocational training geared to reintegration.

Culture Minister Marian Bachev spoke in Plovdiv and urged students to pair tools with talent. “AI will give you opportunities but not inspiration,” Bachev said. “Never say ‘anything will do’, always be prepared to say, ‘this will not do’,” he added.

Later in the day, Education Minister Valchev addressed dropout risks and language learning. The main reason for the accumulation of educational deficits and the dropout of some students is the lack of Bulgarian language skills, Valchev said, outlining planned 200/500/800-hour Bulgarian packages for first-graders who need them from the 2026/27 year and noting that “The system does not have enough mechanisms to force and punish them, so it compensates through persuasion and daily work.” He added: “Our most important goal is to change the culture of learning and to learn through understanding.”

In Pernik, Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev told students their school “has become a standard for quality, a label for good education,” while Principal Emilia Grozdanova urged them to “Strive for more, believe in your abilities. School is your preparation for life.”

At Sofia’s University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Regional Development Minister Ivan Ivanov called the university “a model of excellence,” Environment Minister Manol Genov said its history is “an inseparable part of Bulgaria’s progress,” and Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov told students the sector needs “twelve lecture halls filled with young people like you… Twelve halls for building the 7th and 8th units of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant.”

/YV/