Language Research

THE BULGARIAN LANGUAGE

The Bulgarian language is compulsory in schools according to Article 3 of the Constitution, which proclaims it as the Republic's official language. Article 36 (1) stipulates that "the study and use of the Bulgarian language shall be the right and obligation of every Bulgarian citizen", while Article 36 (2) proclaims that "citizens whose mother tongue is not Bulgarian shall have the right to study and use their own mother tongue together with the mandatory study of the Bulgarian language".

Article 8 (2) of the Law on National Education as well as the Council of Ministers' Decree No. 223 from 1992, provides practical arrangements for the study of the mother tongue in municipal schools. The Law on National Education and its rules of procedure (State Gazette No. 3, dated January 10, 1995) and the Law on Higher Education explicitly prohibit any restrictions or privileges on account of national and ethnic origin, race, sex, religion and material or social status. Teaching ideological or religious doctrines in schools is inadmissible. Teachers are strictly instructed not to encroach on the human and civil rights of pupils, not to degrade their personal dignity, and not to resort to physical punishment or psychological harassment.

ETHNIC LANGUAGES

Minority languages are freely used in family and social settings, as well as in cultural and religious services. The Ministry of Education, Sciences and Technology uses school textbooks published in ethnic languages. It also uses textbooks imported from other countries. Mother tongue education is taught four hours weekly, from the first to the eighth grade, in municipal schools. Mother tongue education is regulated by the following documents; Law on National Education, the Council of Ministers' Decree No. 183, dated September 5, 1994 (State Gazette, dated September 9, 1994); Instruction No. 4 of the Ministry of Education, Sciences and Technology, dated October 27, 1994; Instructions for Organizing the Functioning of General Schools (Sofia, 1995).

Persons belonging to ethnic minority groups are free to disseminate any information in their mother tongue. There are no restrictions on importing fiction or religious literature, as well as maintaining personal contacts with members of the same ethnic, religious and linguistic groups living in other countries.

Persons belonging to different ethnic, religious and linguistic groups in the Republic of Bulgaria are fully entitled to set up their non-governmental, cultural and religious organizations and institutions, in order to promote their culture, to practice their religion and to use their mother tongue. Persons belonging to those groups are entitled to the same civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as the rest of the Bulgarian citizens. At present there are members of Parliament of Turkish origin, Jewish and one Roma. Persons belonging to ethnic groups occupy high positions in the State and Government, banking, financial and business circles; there are also mayors and local municipal leaders.

The media law restricts the use of minority languages and there is no legislation protecting minority media access. However, Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin publish two newspapers in Bulgarian and Turkish. Almost all the minorities form national organizations (Roma, Russians, Armenians, Wallachians, Tatars, Jews).

ROMANY

In Bulgaria 90% of the Roma population speak Romany, the highest percentage among European countries, yet only 50% speak Romany on a regular basis at home. Since 1990 the Roma have been free to use Romany at home and within the minority community. Programs for incorporating the Roma into the school curriculum have been developed and Romany has been taught with various degrees of success in Roma neighborhood schools. The Ministry of Education recommended to municipal authorities (who have a prerogative over education) to level the educational standard in neighborhood schools to equal those of the general education system. They were asked to selectively introduce the study of the Roma language into the curriculum, and to create special pre-school groups for helping Roma children to learn Bulgarian.

Romany is defined as a "mother tongue" by the Constitution, and thus can be studied for up to four hours per week as an elective course in schools. Moreover, since 1997 it has been possible to study Romany in Bulgarian schools. In recent years, some elements of multicultural education in the field of music, literature and history have also been introduced.

Due to the assimilation policies of the past, most Roma speak Bulgarian, Turkish or Vlach and claim them as their mother tongue in various surveys. The increasing school drop out rate, however, leaves more and more Roma children with almost no knowledge of written or even oral Bulgarian.

AROMANIAN (VLACH)

Currently the Aromanian community in Bulgaria enjoys few political or cultural rights. For the most part this is the result of the policies of the previous government, which before 1989 had promoted an active policy of assimilation of national minorities. Even though this policy was aimed primarily at the Turkish minority residing in the south, the Aromanian and Romanian communities have been also affected. In recent years the two Romanian-speaking communities have been successful in organizing several cultural associations. Furthermore, the fact that the Romanian National Television and Radio are readily available throughout much of the northern part of the country and the fact that many Aromanians and Romanians travel regularly to Romania might help them preserve their language and culture.

The main demands of the Aromanian and Romanian communities have been to achieve some sort of cultural recognition in Bulgaria, and to be able to use their native language when dealing with the local officials in the few mainly Aromanian/Romanian villages.

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Updated (March 2003)

HIGHER EDUCATION

Programs fostering knowledge of the culture, history, language and religion of the national minorities exist at different departments of Sofia University, Plovdiv University, New Bulgarian University and Shumen University. Some minority languages are taught in the Balkan College in Sofia.

Several textbooks and other teaching materials for elementary, middle and high schools were produced through private initiatives but they are used in a very limited number of urban schools.

There are very few teachers belonging to the ethnic minorities in Bulgaria. They usually teach in minority schools and no special training is organized for them by the state. The majority of teachers in schools with predominantly minority students are ethnic Bulgarians. Some NGOs organize teacher-training courses for both the minority teachers and the teachers working in minority schools, but not on a systematic basis.

A lot of textbooks for all levels of education are produced in Bulgaria. They have to be approved by the Ministry of Education. Some of the high school textbooks include knowledge of the culture, history, language and religion of the minorities living in Bulgaria. However, their use is not mandatory and there are no data available whether and to what extent these textbooks are used.

There are no secular private schools for the ethnic and linguistic minorities in Bulgaria. The Muslims have three private high schools offering regular high school diplomas - in Shumen, Russe and Momchilgrad. The subjects studied at these schools have to meet the state educational high school standards. In addition, the Holy Koran, Interpretations of the Koran, History of Islam, the Arab language and Islamic law and ethics are studied there.

Source: Minority Rights in Bulgaria by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, September 1999, http://www.ihf-hr.org/reports/Minoroties/Bulgariafin.pdf

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