More than 80 children from Slovakia study the Bulgarian education system in our public secondary school in Bratislava – “Hristo Botev”. This became clear during a meeting of the Minister of Education and Science Prof. Galin Tsokov with the teaching staff of the institution. This is one of the two Bulgarian public schools abroad, and the unique thing here is that most of the students are of Slovak origin, but they study the subjects in the same way as they are taught in Bulgaria.
“It is impressive how dozens of Slovak children learn Bulgarian language, Bulgarian history and literature. This is a unique relationship between our two countries, which must be maintained and developed,” said Minister Tsokov. During the meeting with the teachers, it was discussed how to promote the school and attract more children to it.
Children from all over Slovakia and even from Vienna will be able to study in Bratislava with a school bus of the Ministry of Education and Science. Minister Tsokov committed to this by explaining that the vehicle will be of the same type used to transport Bulgarian students and will be given to the Bulgarian Public Secondary School in Bratislava for use, so that they can attract children from distant areas who want to study there.
Minister Tsokov committed to do everything possible to provide a school bus, which will also transport candidates from Austria who want to attend the Bulgarian school.
He gave books for the school and martenitsa for all the students and teachers.
In 2014, our school in Bratislava ranked fourth in the matriculation pass in mathematics in the entire Slovak Republic. This increases the interest in it and more and more families prefer it, explained its principal Nikolay Yordanov. The school also has a kindergarten, which is also very popular. The students won a number of competitions for translations into both languages, and their latest initiative was a translation of Petya Dubarova’s poems into Slovak. Another interesting project that they implemented years ago is a guide to Plovdiv for tourists from Slovakia.
“What is unique about our school is that we benefit from both educational systems. For example, we simultaneously use the Bulgarian Digital Backpack and the Slovak similar platform. In this way, we strive to give the best to our students,” the school principal also said. According to him, 7 students are now preparing to visit Bulgaria as part of a project under the Ministry of Education and Science’s “Innovations in Action” Programme.
Along with the minister, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Slovak Republic, Vasil Petkov, took part in the meeting with the teachers.
During his visit to Bratislava, Prof. Tsokov also visited the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Bratislava, which is preparing an exhibition on the occasion of March 3.
