site.btaVazrazhdane Submits Bill to Introduce Virtues and Religion School Subject from 2026/2027 School Year

The Vazrazhdane parliamentary group submitted to the National Assembly a bill proposing amendments to the Pre-school and School Education Act to introduce a Virtues and Religion school subject from the start of the 2026/2027 school year, the party’s press centre said on Friday.

The author of the proposal is Daniel Prodanov, Deputy Chair of the parliamentary Committee on Education and Science.

The explanatory memorandum to the bill points to the constitutional role of Orthodox Christianity as the traditional religion in Bulgaria. It also notes that parents will have the option to choose a programme without elements of confessional instruction.

"There is no problem within the remaining time before the elections for the Virtues and Religion subject to be approved at first and second readings, so that it can be included in the curriculum for first-grade students in the 2026/2027 school year," Prodanov said, as quoted in the press release. 

Prodanov is to request that National Assembly Chair Raya Nazaryan convene a meeting of the Committee next week, as it has been without a chair since Prof. Andrey Chorbanov left the parliamentary group of There Is Such a People.

Vazrazhdane recalled that the proposed amendments were discussed in October and approved during working group meetings within the Committee as part of planned changes to the education law. Following the resignation of the Rosen Zhelyazkov Cabinet, the Committee has not held a single meeting.

On October 8, 2025, Parliament adopted on first reading amendments to the Pre-school and School Education Act introducing the new subject. The revisions, tabled by the Council of Ministers, were passed with 169 votes in favour, 3 against, and 28 abstentions. According to the explanatory memorandum to the bill, the new compulsory subject aims to foster a sustainable moral culture, moral judgement and understanding of different points of view. It is proposed to be studied as an elective subject such as Religion - Orthodox Christianity, Religion - Islam, or Virtues/Ethics, and no grades will be given for this subject.

Presenting the draft amendments, Minister of Education and Science Krasimir Valchev said the classes would be taught by teachers, no child would be forced to study religion against their will, and the core programme would focus on virtues.