There are more than 200 Bulgarian schools abroad and their number is constantly growing. This year new schools opened in France and Germany. It is a fact that more and more Bulgarians abroad want their children to speak their mother tongue. The Bulgarian state also provides support and a few years ago it started the Mother Tongue Abroad Program. Through it Bulgarian children abroad receive textbooks and funding is provided for renting premises for the local education centers. Bulgarian children between 6 and 18 years of age can join the weekend schools. They have lessons in Bulgarian language, history and geography of Bulgaria. Unfortunately, just 10% of Bulgarian children abroad visit such centers. Let’s take a look into one of the oldest Bulgarian schools in Europe – the one situated downtown Vienna. This is the Bulgarian-Austrian weekend school "Sts. Cyril and Methodius." It was the first independent school outside Bulgaria after 1989, registered under the laws of a foreign country and also licensed by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education. For the past 23 years we have been keeping the Bulgarian spirit alive in these children, headmistress Irina Vladikova says.

"According to Bulgarian traditions we started on the 15th of September and were pleasantly surprised by the great number of students who wanted to study in the school. There were some 50 first-graders and now we have some serious problems with the lack of space,” Dr. Vladikova says. “We are not used to having so many first graders in the school but it is great that so many children have chosen to learn their mother tongue and not to abandon it. We expect to have some 250 students this year. Indeed, it will be a bit crowded as we have a small apartment and another room. The situation is complicated keeping in mind that we also have a kindergarten with 40 children there. These are our future first grade pupils. We also have students in the 12th grade. They are not so many because they are very busy at their Austrian schools. "

Students in the 12th grade expect upcoming exams. Can Bulgarians have exams in their mother tongue?

"This is an issue we have been working on. We want Bulgarian students to have the right to hold matriculation exams in Bulgarian without the need of going through preliminary exams. We want our school to be recognized as an educational center in order to allow students to hold Bulgarian matriculation. In Austria, Bulgarian can be studied as a third or fourth language, but is not included as an option in the exam. Our goal is to enable students in Austria and other European countries to hold exams in Bulgarian language."

Irina Vladikova is one of the promoters of quality Bulgarian language education abroad.

"It is very important to create special programs as we currently use content of textbooks used in Bulgaria. It is very difficult for our students as after spending several years abroad, Bulgarian stops sounding like mother tongue to these children. Our most important task is to adapt these programs to suit our students’ needs. This requires creating textbooks with more exercises and vocabulary. I wish our children much success and a lot of persistence. We know it is not easy but hope Bulgarian children come to this school with pleasure."

English: Alexander Markov