“The school year will begin with 382 Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad, which study the native language, culture, history and geography of Bulgaria.” This was said by Natalia Mihalevska – Director of the Directorate “Education of Bulgarians Abroad and School Network” at the Ministry of Education and Science.

According to her, they are more prepared because they already have experience in distance learning, as since 2017 the Ministry of Education has given a choice to Bulgarians abroad to study remotely and in part-time classes:

“Opportunity for remote certification of language competences under the European Language Framework has been made possible.”

Mihalevska stressed that the work of teachers in the form of distance learning of children abroad should be even more motivating, because the children study regularly in other schools – in the country where they live:

“We are trying to create a network of schools that support each other. The first thing we did was to create a National Electronic Library, where there is a section for Bulgarians abroad and teachers can share and publish materials for working in an electronic classroom.”

Schools have the freedom to decide for themselves in what form to conduct classes, depending on the epidemic situation in the country, explained Natalia Mihalevska.

“Until now, students who complete e-learning without attendance classes could not be issued a certificate of completion according to the Ministry of Education and Science standard, but only to certify online knowledge. Now they will be able to receive this certificate, with which they can return to Bulgaria without taking equivalency examinations “.