Geographical accessibility

The administrative-territorial division of Bulgaria is 3-tier and includes 28 districts, divided into 265 municipalities, in which 3177 town halls are separated. The number of settlements in the Republic of Bulgaria as of 31 December 2019 is 5 257 (including towns - 257, and villages - 5 000), and the number of settlement formations is 163 (including nationally important - 8, locally important - 155).

The country is divided into six planning districts: South-West, South-Central, South-East, North-East, North-Central and North-West districts, which are not administrative-territorial units but serve for statistical purposes.

The total number of schools in the country as at 2021/22 are 1956, which are distributed in different districts of the country, and this is directly dependent on the population in the respective age groups. The South West has the highest number of schools with 476, followed by South Central with 432, South East with 308, North West with 260, North East with 257 and North Central with 223.

The Ministry of Education and Science implements a national policy aimed at ensuring equal access to pre-school and school education and reducing the dropout and early school leaving rates, ensuring quality education for all, following the principle of lifelong learning.

The programme "Facilitating access to education. Inclusive Education", which aims at maximising the inclusion and effective participation of children and pupils in the education system. The conditions for equal access to pre-school and school education are ensured through the designation of central and protected kindergartens and schools, as well as through the provision of free transport for children of compulsory pre-school age and for pupils from I to XII. grade inclusive.  

Funds are provided to support equal access and support for personal development, including: student scholarships; transport of children and students; purchase of books, textbooks and study kits for free use and for the school library; all-day organization of the school day and meals; activities related to general support for personal development; activities related to additional support for personal development; activities related to student recreation and sports; implementation of school dropout prevention programs.

For children of compulsory pre-school age and for pupils from localities where there is no kindergarten or school, funds from the State budget are provided compulsorily for transport to and from the nearest kindergarten or school providing education in the relevant group or grade.

Also, a freely available unified e-learning platform "digital backpack" installed on the cloud environment of the Ministry of Education and Science has been built and made available for use. The platform transfers all activities from real to digital environment, this includes the following functionalities available for teachers, students and parents:

• Electronic gradebook - grades, reviews, absences;

• Giving homework assignments and tracking their completion on time; receiving reviews;

• Statistics on homework completion and individual educational progress;

• Large database of digital content (videos, 3D models and animations);

• Creation of learning content - dynamic resources, exercise books, tools, videos, sharing devices.

Admission requirements and choice of school

According to the Pre-school and School Education Act, pupils enter state and municipal schools in the places determined by the school and/or state enrolment plan. The school enrolment plan determines the number of places at which pupils enter the first grade of the primary stage. This number may be varied by the School head in subsequent classes in accordance with actual enrolments.

The State admission plan determines the number of places on which pupils are admitted to:

• sports schools - in grade V, in grade VI, in grade VII or in grade VIII;

• art schools - in the 1st, 5th and 7th grades;

• schools of culture, in grades I, V and VIII;

• in secondary schools - grade V 

Ordinance No. 10 of 1 September 2016 on the organisation of activities in school education sets the State Educational Standard (SES) for the organisation of activities in school education.

The school enrolment plan is determined by the Head of School on the basis of an analysis of the number of pupils in the locality, the school network, the state educational standard for the physical environment and the information and library provision of kindergartens, schools and personal development support centres and in accordance with the municipality's information system and strategy.

For the implementation of admission to the first grade for each locality with more than one school, the municipalities develop an admission system in which the leading criterion is the proximity of the school to the permanent/ current address of the child, and define adjacent school districts for the coverage of students.

The catchment area of the centre schools includes the localities from which pupils are referred where there is no school.

Subject to the guiding criterion, children are allocated to 4 groups depending on since when they live in or outside the school catchment area (over 3 years, between 1-3 years, less than 1 year).

The address which is more favourable to the pupil is taken for the allocation to the groups.

Children whose brothers or sisters up to the age of 12 are pupils at the same school are allocated to the first group irrespective of their permanent/ current address.

Admission to the school follows the order of the groups, with children in the first group admitted first.

Where the number of children in a particular group exceeds the number of places specified in the school admission plan, the children in that group are ordered according to the following additional criteria:

1. a child with a permanent disability of more than 50%;

2. a child with one or two deceased parents;

3. other children in the family over the age of 12 who are attending the school;

4. children who have graduated from a preparatory group at the selected school;

5. a child from a family with more than two children;

6. other criteria determined by the municipality that are related to access to education and are not discriminatory.

Students in grades I through VI may transfer to vacant seats in classes in the same school and to another school throughout the school year.

Students who have successfully completed the primary stage of basic education, have passed the national external assessment in grade IV and have participated in Olympiads and competitions included in the calendar of the Ministry of Education and Science are eligible for admission to grade V in specialised secondary schools with a "Mathematics" or "Natural Sciences" profile.

Age levels and grouping of pupils

Schooling is compulsory until the age of 16 and starts in the school year beginning in the year the child turns 7. It may also start in the school year beginning in the year in which the child reaches the age of 6 years at the parent's discretion and when school readiness is certified under the conditions and in the manner laid down in the State educational standard for pre-school education.

The start of school education may be postponed by one school year when the child's health condition does not permit entry into Grade I.

Stages and grades of primary education:

1. Primary stage of basic education (grades I to IV inclusive);

2. Primary education (grades I to VII inclusive);

The number of places in classes in Grades I and V shall be determined in accordance with the standard for the physical environment and information and library provision for kindergartens, schools and personal development support centres and the standard for the financing of institutions.

Standard for the number of pupils per class:

Class I - IV grade: minimum 16 - maximum 22

Class V - VII grade: minimum 18 - maximum 26

Organisation of the school y ear

School education is organized into school years that include school time and non-school time. The school year lasts 12 months and begins on 15 September, and in sports schools on 1 September. 

School hours for all forms of education, except independent education, are organised into school terms, school weeks, school days and school hours.

Study time for the independent form is organised by the school through examinations and by the pupil preparing for them independently.

Five school days of full-time education in grades I to III inclusive must be used for project and creative activities, which are implemented in the school hours of the curriculum. 

The school year includes two school terms. The duration of the first school term shall be 18 school weeks, and in sports schools 20 school weeks, of which two school weeks are used for training camps in the type of sport for pupils in Classes V to XII under the conditions and in the manner laid down by the Minister of Youth and Sports.

The duration of the second term is determined by order of the Minister of Education and Science.

During the school year, pupils have autumn, Christmas, inter-term, spring and summer holidays.

Organisation of the school day and week

The school learning plan distributes the school time among the school subjects or modules for acquiring school preparation covering three sections: compulsory,selective and facultative school classes. In the compulsory school classes training for acquiring general educational preparation shall be realized, and in the vocational high schools and in classes for vocational preparation – also the general vocational preparation. In the selective school classes, training shall be realized for acquiring the extended preparation, the profile preparation and/or branch, specific and extended professional preparation, as well as of the specialized preparation. The total number of compulsory and elective school hours for one school week is as follows: twenty-two school hours - in I grade; twenty-three school hours - in II grade; twenty-seven school hours - in III and IV grade; thirty school hours - from V to VI grade; thirty-one school hours - in VII grade. For innovative schools, an increase of up to 10% in the total number of hours is allowed. Based on the school curriculum, an individual curriculum is developed for students in an individual form of education.

The school week has a duration of 5 school days and coincides with the working week. Students may participate in competitions of the state and international sports calendar of the Bulgarian sports federations in the respective sport on weekends.

The school day includes school hours and breaks in between. It begins no earlier than 8.00 a.m. and ends no later than 7.30 p.m. Exceptionally, it may begin no earlier than 7.30 a.m. when school conditions do not permit all classes to be taught before midday only.

The beginning and end of the school day for each school are determined by order of the school principal before the beginning of each school year.

The school day is organised on a half-day and full-day basis and is conducted in accordance with the terms and conditions of Ordinance No 10/2016 on the organisation of activities in school education.

The duration of the school hour for all types of preparation is:

1. 35 minutes - in grades I and II;

2. 40 minutes - in grades III - VII;

3. 45 minutes - in grades VIII - XII;

4. 45 - on teaching practice in schools of arts;

5. 45 minutes - in teaching practice, and in specialized training in sports and for active recreation and recovery as a result of training loads in sports schools;

The duration of the lesson also applies to the class time and to the time for organizing and conducting sports activities.

In unforeseen and exceptional circumstances, the duration of each lesson may be reduced to 20 minutes by order of the school head. The school head may also reduce the duration of self-study periods, interest classes and leisure and physical activity activities in the case of a full-day school day. 

Students must be given a break after each lesson. Breaks between school lessons are determined by the school head and must last no less than 10 minutes and no more than 30 minutes. The head of the school ensures that pupils have at least one break of at least 20 minutes.

Legislative framework

Preschool and School Education Act 

Ordinance No 10 of 1 September 2016 on the organisation of activities in school education   

Regulation on the financing of institutions in the pre-school and school education system