Vasil Levski Lyceum - a temple of the Bulgarian spirit in Chisinau

"Created and developed with sincere love and thought for the motherland Bulgaria" - this would be the definition of the Vasil Levski Bulgarian Theoretical Lyceum in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, if there was an explanatory dictionary of educational institutions. Established in 1996, it fulfilled the dream of generations of Bulgarians - heirs of immigrants to Moldova from 200 years ago, that their children would be educated in their native language. This is possible thanks to the interaction between the education ministries of Moldova and Bulgaria, on the initiative of the local Bulgarian community and Bulgarian deputies in the Moldovan parliament.

Today, in 17 classes from the 1st to 12th grade, 350 students study in the lyceum, and 20 children are engaged in a preparatory class. "The school is proud of the fact that even children who do not have Bulgarian roots come to us and learn the Bulgarian language with pleasure and great desire... When they come here, some of them do not know a single word of our language, but they learn it at such a level that at the Bulgarian Olympiads in Moldova they take the first place every year, competing with children who have been speaking the language since they were little," the director of the school, Nataliya Yaroslavskaya, told Radio Bulgaria. In her words, today the lyceum is much more than an educational institution: "It has become a home and a temple of the Bulgarian spirit, preserving the history, culture and traditions of our ancestors", and the children, regardless of their origin, feel like part of one big family.

A challenge for the learning process is that they come to the school with different levels of language proficiency. Nataliya Yaroslavskaya tells the following about the approach to them, so that everyone moves forward together:

"Students - children of Bessarabian Bulgarians - come to the lyceum. But I want to tell you that those who live in the capital Chisinau do not speak Bulgarian at home (they communicate with each other in Russian). For this reason, we start the training from the very basic knowledge - the alphabet, sound laws, stress, pronunciation, intonation, etc."

The Bulgarian language and literature are included in the curriculum from grades 1 to 12. In primary school, they study 5 hours a week, from 5th to 9th grade – 3 hours, and from 10th to 12th grade – 3 or 4 hours depending on the profile. Students from the 12th grade have the right to choose Bulgarian as a matriculation exam, which gives them the opportunity to continue their education in Bulgaria.

However, along with the study of the literary Bulgarian language, won't the colorful local dialect of the Bulgarians from Moldova, which has supported them as a community for centuries, disappear?

"The aim of the Bulgarian classes is to bring them closer to Bulgarian language classes in Bulgaria, and in this regard the linguistic norms of the literary Bulgarian language are followed. But in some of the topics, a comparative analysis of the Bessarabian dialects is made", explains the director of the lyceum. "In the music classes, mainly songs from the respective regions with a Bulgarian population in Moldova are sung. Thus, the children also get to know the specific local Bulgarian dialects."

The interest in learning Bulgarian among children is additionally provoked by the opportunity to contact teachers seconded from Bulgaria under an agreement between the Ministries of Education of the two countries.

This, perhaps, makes Bulgaria closer to our children, believes Nataliya Yaroslavskaya.

The children get to know the folklore, customs, clothing of the Bulgarians in Bulgaria, but also the history, traditions and holidays of the Bulgarians in Moldova. With the greatest desire and interest, they study Christmas traditions. They organize carolling groups that compete in competitions at the regional level, Nataliya Yaroslavskaya explains and clarifies:

"In Chisinau, we are again talking about children who live in the capital. Their situation is very different from that in the Bulgarian villages, where the children live in a Bulgarian environment and speak Bulgarian. What our students receive here is new. They learn about Bulgarian traditions, including the lazaruvane. This is a holiday that our girls love and celebrate with pleasure."

The Vasil Levski Bulgarian Theoretical Lyceum works in constant cooperation with the Bulgarian Embassy in Chisinau, with the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, with the Ministry of Education in Bulgaria, and at the end of 2023 also the initiative of Radio Bulgaria "Vasil Levski Revisited" was included.

Thanks to its participation in programs for Bulgarians abroad, the lyceum secures textbooks and aids on Bulgarian language and literature, history and geography of Bulgaria, books by Bulgarian authors, folk instruments and national costumes, equipping its classrooms with modern multimedia systems, etc. .

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Editing by Elena Karkalanova

Translated and published by Rositsa Petkova