Nearly six out of ten Bulgarian 15-year-olds do not reach the basic level in reading and mathematics, and the authorities in Bulgaria want to force religion on them and introduce a grade for discipline. What problem will this solve?
The Bulgarian state has finally diagnosed the problem of Bulgarian education - and it turned out to be the student. He is careless and not disciplined enough, so he will evaluate his behavior. He is not good enough - so he will be corrected by studying one hour a week on "Virtues and Religions".
Borisov, Radev and the Patriarch
The assessment for discipline and the mandatory lesson on upbringing in goodness was a political initiative of GERB, announced last year. Even then, as president, Rumen Radev stated that the school should not only teach, but also educate, and this education should be based on faith and Orthodox values. It fell to the ruling "Progressive Bulgaria" to turn the ideas into legislation.
Patriarch Daniil - a consistent advocate for religious education, found like-minded people in both Borisov and Radev. This continuity is remarkable. Prime Minister Radev promised to dismantle the oligarchic model of Borisov's rule, but apparently found nothing to dismantle in his educational model.
“Class, stand up! Class, be quiet!”
In July, Prime Minister Radev was already talking about the “government's plan“ to introduce “Virtues and Religions“, supported by the Holy Synod. “Progressive Bulgaria“ introduced a bill to make the subject mandatory from the 2028/2029 school year, first for first-graders, and then for the following grades. The class is mandatory, not religion – will choose between Orthodoxy, Islam and a non-religious program “Virtues, Ethics and Civic Education“.
Last week, the proposal reached the parliamentary education committee, which discussed six bills on the topic for three hours, but postponed the vote. A day later, the Ministry of Education presented a package for discipline: incentives, warnings, corrective measures and sanctions, a personal development specialist in each school and an electronic card, which will reflect the student's behavior, social skills, achievements and talents once a term. The ministry emphasizes that the goal is prevention and early support, and the sanction - a last resort.
Thus, in just two days, the state proposed two responses to the crisis in the school - to educate values in students and to correct their behavior. In both cases, the object of change is the same - the child. "Children are very often viewed as objects: we will instill virtues in them, we will correct them and suddenly we will have capable citizens," Maria Brestnichka of the National Children's Network told Deutsche Welle.
Will children become better?
It is more difficult to find evidence that these measures will achieve the set goal. GERB's Education Minister Krasimir Valchev referred last year to observations of about 12,000 children who studied religion as an optional or elective course. According to him, they were "better", had fewer vices and addictions and even better educational results. The Ministry of Education and Science also announced its own study on the positive effect of religious education, which it was supposed to present additionally.
But evidence has never been presented, although experts such as Irina Manusheva, an advocate for quality education, asked the deputies where the analyses were. Given the alarming levels of functional illiteracy and the deficit of critical thinking among Bulgarian students, her question was: “What educational problem does the new subject solve?“
Former Education Minister Nikolay Denkov pointed out another risk - that religion could become a tool for indoctrination and divide children by religion, and in mixed regions by ethnicity. He gave Russia as an example of the political use of Orthodoxy.
The new lesson suggests that virtues can be separated in the curriculum and taught once a week. “Education is not a lesson on virtues, nor a grade on a subject“, says Brestnichka. According to her, qualities such as responsibility, communication skills and respect for others are built throughout the school environment, not in a separate lesson or by assessing behavior.
For Maria Brestnicka, quality is not limited to academic results. It also means a safe environment in which a child feels safe and can show the best of themselves. “If children do not find meaning, they will not want to be in school“, regardless of whether they are being wag their fingers or “virtues and religions are poured into their heads“.
After PISA - discipline and virtues
Just ten days before the state presents its new solutions for the upbringing of students, PISA 2025 has once again shown the scale of the educational problem. Nearly six out of ten Bulgarian 15-year-olds do not reach the basic level in reading and mathematics. On average for OECD countries, this applies to about a third. “When my colleagues talk about a third, they talk in panic“, Maria Brestnichka tells DV. In Bulgaria, the result is almost twice as bad. After results that show a serious deficit in basic skills, the authorities put the assessment of discipline and the new lesson on virtues on the agenda.
And PISA contains another alarming signal - 27% of Bulgarian students define school as a waste of time, compared to 16% on average for the OECD. At the same time, the study also confirms the problem that the Ministry of Education wants to attack - there is noise, distractions and students who do not listen to the teacher in the classrooms. The question is not whether discipline is a problem, but what is behind it.
What the school is doing
Answers are contained in the OECD’s Bulgarian Education Review 2025, which examines not only student outcomes but also the way the system works. One of its most worrying findings is that Bulgarian children perform relatively well in international tests at the primary level, but this advantage is lost over the years in school.
The OECD reveals problems where current measures do not reach. Bulgaria has introduced competency-based learning, but it has difficulty reaching the classroom. Curricula are perceived by teachers and principals as overloaded, and teaching remains strongly teacher-oriented and knowledge-transfer oriented. And the national external assessment (NEE) after the 7th grade creates a strong incentive to focus education on test preparation.
A parallel education system has also developed around the state exam, which generates significant revenue. The OECD cites data according to which about 2/3 of seventh-graders use private lessons to prepare for NEE, and the costs of a family can reach 9,000 leva (4,601 euros) per year. A paradox arises: parents pay extra to prepare their children outside of school for an exam organized by the state on the material taught in school.
But the opportunity to compensate for the shortcomings of the school is not the same for everyone. The OECD defines socio-economic disparities in Bulgarian education as more pronounced than in most countries of the organization, and warns that they begin early and accumulate over the years. The latest PISA shows their scale: the most advantaged quarter of Bulgarian students outscored the most disadvantaged by 101 points in science, compared to an OECD average of 85 points.
Thus, private lessons are not only a symptom of the school's weaknesses. They also give an advantage to families who can pay for what the system fails to provide equally to everyone. And the OECD warns that inequalities are not erased in school - on the contrary, they accumulate as students move through it.
And the teachers?
Supporters of the measures also see them as help for the teacher. The principal of Sofia's 119th Secondary School, Diyan Stamatov, defines them as the first attempt to systematically deal with problematic behavior. Brestnichka also sees the flip side: teachers are already expected to teach, develop social and emotional skills and build relationships in the classroom, and now to assess behavior. If the state wants more from them, she says, it must first provide them with systematic support.
The lack of discipline and values in children is not the cause of the crisis in education, but one of its consequences. But politicians have chosen to re-educate students instead of reforming schools.
This text expresses the author's opinion and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and the State News Agency as a whole.