site.btaNational Council of Bulgarian National Minority in Serbia Holds Ninth Regular Session

The National Council of the Bulgarian National Minority in Serbia held its ninth regular session on Wednesday. Discussions focused on issues related to education, access to information in the Bulgarian language, cultural activities, and the official use of the Bulgarian language and script. Thirteen out of a total of nineteen council members participated in the meeting.

The Chairman of the Council, Stefan Stoykov, emphasized that the institution continues to provide financial support to schools in Bosilegrad and Tsaribrod. According to him, all textbooks from grades 1 to 11 have been translated, the remaining work includes translating and supplementing textbooks in history, geography, music, and visual arts for grade 12. He appealed to the Bulgarian Embassy in Belgrade to provide the necessary funds to ensure free textbooks.

In education, the Council reported that students from Bosilegrad and Tsaribrod participated in the national Bulgarian language and literature competition, organized by the Matica [parent body] of Bulgarians in Serbia and the Ministry of Education. All winners and their teachers will receive monetary awards on the occasion of the National Awakeners Day. As in previous years, first-grade students will receive free backpacks and school supplies, provided by the council with the support of the Municipality of Bosilegrad.

In access to information, the council founded two Bulgarian media outlets: the newspaper Novo Bratstvo (New Brotherhood) and Nova Radio TV Bosilegrad. The council announced its intention to launch a new children’s publication titled Children’s Dreams. The first issue will be distributed free of charge to elementary school students.

The council's cultural activities included the upcoming opening of an ethnographic museum in Bosilegrad. The council organized and funded several initiatives, including a school trip, the purchase of folk costumes for the Tsaribrod Cultural Centre, the publication of the book Guardian of the Moon by Ivana Milanov, workshops for March 1 and the making of martenitsas, activities of the Shopsko Oro association, and a recreational camp organized by the civic association Harmony from Tsaribrod.

The session unanimously supported the initiative by the GLAS (Voice) association to create a mural, covering an area of approximately 40 square meters, located on the wall of a building in central Bosilegrad, dedicated to Professor Yordan Zahariev, a native of Bosilegrad, in honor of the 60th anniversary of his death.

Stoykov expressed gratitude to the OSCE Mission to Serbia for its partnership in working out strategies in the council’s four core areas of activity: education, culture, information and language, which are expected to be finalized by mid-September and adopted at the next session of the National Council of the Bulgarian National Minority in Serbia.