Lawmakers on parliament's Education and Science Committee sat down again today to work through six bills proposing changes to the school law. MPs from different parties filed the bills between May and September. All of them touch on two topics: teaching virtues and religion in schools, and how the system deals with children who don't speak Bulgarian well enough.
The committee first took up the issue at a special session on September 16. Committee chairman Dimitar Zdravkov of Progressive Bulgaria announced at the time that the agenda had grown to 13 items, up from the 11 bills filed by September 15. At that session, lawmakers decided to discuss only the bills on religion and language integration and spent nearly three hours talking specifically about teaching religion in schools. No first-reading vote was taken, so Zdravkov said discussions would continue at the regular session on Wednesday, September 23.
According to the committee's agenda, published on parliament's website, all six bills were back on the table today, but it became clear early in the session that the focus was on language integration. Deputy Education and Science Minister Dr. Tanya Pancheva and ministry experts attended the session, along with Diyan Stamatov, chairman of the Union of Employers in Public Education, and Asen Alexandrov, chairman of the Association of Secondary School Principals.
The first of the six bills was filed on May 7 by Kostadin Kostadinov and other MPs from Vazrazhdane. It would introduce a new school subject — "Virtues and Religions" — as part of children's general education. The sponsors write that there is currently no comprehensive, consistent framework for teaching virtues and religion; topics of faith, values and morality are touched on only sporadically across different subjects, without the necessary depth. Vazrazhdane argues this prevents students from understanding important historical, cultural and social processes tied to the role of religion in the development of Bulgaria and Europe. The bill's rationale notes that the Constitution recognizes Eastern Orthodoxy as the country's traditional religion, which is significant to Bulgarian identity. Teaching about it, the sponsors argue, should therefore be treated as an educational need rather than an imposition of faith. To keep schools secular, the bill provides for alternative curricula for the subject — one with elements of confessional instruction and one without.
The second bill, dated June 3, was filed by Krasimir Valchev and other MPs from GERB-SDS. It states that language integration is already an established policy in a number of countries, meaning children go through intensive language instruction before starting to study other subjects. According to the sponsors, children need to know Bulgarian well enough to understand what they read and communicate freely — this, they say, is the foundation for every other competency and for successful integration into the school system. Data cited by the GERB-SDS lawmakers show that a large share of Bulgarian students perform poorly across all subjects precisely because they lack sufficient command of the language. Despite efforts to enroll all children in mandatory pre-school preparation, thousands of children who don't speak Bulgarian well still start first grade each year — and, the sponsors write, this keeps them from learning effectively, causes them to quickly fall behind, become demotivated and eventually drop out of school, whether formally or not.
The third bill was filed on July 22 by Elisaveta Belobradova and other MPs from Democratic Bulgaria. It proposes adding media literacy, critical thinking, and the ability to work with modern technology and artificial intelligence to the goals of pre-school and school education. The bill also envisions a strategic framework for digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence in education, meant to serve as a tool for achieving early access to quality instruction. Early childhood development is listed in the text as a key national priority. Among the specific proposals is the option for municipal councils to set a fee, for the period from June 1 to September 14, for attendance at independent nurseries and kindergartens. The bill also proposes formally establishing the role of education mediator and turning the position of school principal into a term-based post — a four-year term, with the same person allowed to serve no more than two consecutive terms.
The fourth bill was filed on July 23 by committee chairman Dimitar Zdravkov and other MPs from Progressive Bulgaria. It provides for a new form of language support — a preparatory language class that children would go through before entering first grade. As in Vazrazhdane's bill, it also proposes making "Virtues and Religions" part of the mandatory curriculum. The subject would be taught through alternative curricula approved by the education minister — one with elements of confessional instruction focused on a specific religion such as Orthodoxy or Islam, and another without such elements, focused on ethics and civic education. Which of the two options a child takes would be decided by the child or their parents, in line with existing regulations. The subject would not be graded. Zdravkov and his Progressive Bulgaria colleagues want the new subject introduced gradually, starting in first grade only from the 2028/2029 school year.
The fifth bill was filed on July 27 by Nikolay Denkov and other MPs from We Continue the Change. It proposes a different general-education subject — "Virtues and Values" — designed to systematically foster students' moral, civic and cultural development. Unlike the Vazrazhdane and Progressive Bulgaria bills, the sponsors here explicitly state that the subject would have no confessional character and would not aim at religious upbringing or fostering affiliation with a particular faith. Knowledge about religions would be treated solely as part of humanity's historical, cultural and spiritual heritage. According to Denkov and his WCC colleagues, this approach aligns with constitutional principles on the secular nature of the state, freedom of conscience, and equality of citizens regardless of their religious beliefs.
The sixth and final bill was filed on September 14 by Krasimir Valchev and Toma Bikov of GERB-SDS. It seeks to strengthen the educational role of schools and expand students' access to programs on religion. The sponsors argue that instilling virtues is a key part of building universal human and civic values in children, and that a dedicated class period focused specifically on shaping personal values is the strongest tool for achieving that goal. Here too they propose a pluralistic approach — alternative curricula chosen by parents and the students themselves, with or without elements of confessional instruction. What the different curricula should have in common, Valchev and Bikov write, is a focus on spirituality and universal human values. According to them, the class could also serve broader purposes — civic education, deeper study of philosophy, or building attitudes against addiction.
At the special session on September 16, lawmakers did not vote on any of the six bills, and discussion continued at today's committee session, specifically devoted to the language-integration issues set out in the texts.