Today is the first school day that turns out to be a holiday. But a man a century ago worked tirelessly to have a modern European education in Bulgaria. His name is Stoyan Omarcevski and he is the creator of the iconic date for the first day of school. Not much is known about him, but Julian Stoyanov met his grandson.
A century ago, Stoyan Omarchevski sat in the ministerial chair of Enlightenment and remained in history, recalls "New Television".
Before his reforms, the school year began on Dimitrov's Day and ended on St. George's Day. Prof. Alexander Marchev is his grandson. He says that before 1989, his grandfather's name was banned.
"Families like ours avoided talking much. Such was the weather. Especially when they were in front of the kids. There was always the fear that DS would knock on the door. So there was very little talk about these matters, but of course I knew who my grandfather was. The authorities did not look kindly on us. The golden rule was to keep their mouths shut," he recalls.
However, today it does not follow this rule. Tells a lot but has nothing to show. Photos are counted on the fingers of one hand. The entire archive of the family was burned after the devastating bombings in Sofia during the First World War.
An incendiary bomb falls on the house and burns down to the basement.totally burned. He had the largest private library, a huge archive. Correspondence with Einstein. Every Bulgarian book that came out, the first autographed copy was given to Omarchevski as a gift," Marchev reveals.
He proudly tells how his grandfather is also the creator of the Day of the People's Alarm Clock. Makes primary education compulsory. He also invented the Omarchev spelling, which we still use today - he removed the ending Ь from words and introduced the rule when writing "ССС" and "IN". However, critics at the time argued that this was a populist reform and that the level of the language was lowered in the name of the people.
"If we now imagine that that spelling was preserved and we had people write in it, I have to tell you that only a few percent would do well," he added.
Among the legacy left to us by Omarchevski are over 1,100 schools built during his time throughout Bulgaria. To date, the capital's 141 schools bear his name. There is also a portrait of him in the "West" Hall. in the National Assembly.
At Omarchevski's suggestion, the Alley of Notable Bulgarians was created here in Borisova Garden, but to this day there is no monument to him. As well as nowhere else in Bulgaria.
Vezhdi Rashidov is working on the monument. Such as they are in the Boris garden.
In recent decades, Professor Omarchevski taught at the Faculty of Theology at Sofia University, founded by his grandfather. He was also a dean.
And so for the 103rd year, students will hear the first bell and cross the threshold of the school to begin the new academic year.