The reforms of 1959 were of more lasting significance than were the 1957-58 reforms. Unlike the latter reforms, which represented a slight deviation from the Soviet educational model, the 1959 reforms returned the Bulgarian system once more to the original Soviet pattern. In 1958 Nikita Khrushchev wrote a treatise called "Strengthening the Ties Between School and Life" in which he demanded a close integration of the educational system and the economy. Shortly thereafter, Zhivkov declared that the 1957-58 school reforms in his own country were inadequate and asked for a basic reorganization of the entire school system. In July 1959 a basic law, reorganizing the entire school system, was passed.
This law was entitled "Law on Establishing a Closer Link Between Education and Practical Life and on Furthering the Development of Public Education in the People's Republic of Bulgaria." Its stated objectives were: "To prepare youth for life by combining education and instruction with practical and production work" and "to imbue the young people with a love of work and a spirit of patriotism and international solidarity." The law proposed the introduction of polytechnic studies on an unprecedented scale in order to provide skilled workers for agriculture and industry. Although the main objective was to meet the demands of the economy, it was hoped that the new emphasis on technical subjects would break down the exclusiveness of the educated classes, while socializing the younger generation in communist ideological terms.
In practical terms the 1959 reforms introduced a unified twelve-year so-called secondary school—despite the fact that it included the elementary grades as well—called the medium polytechnical school, which totally replaced the existing five-year basic school and the four-year medium school or gymnasium. The medium polytechnical school was divided into an eight-year elementary course and a four-year upper course. After completing the basic school the student was faced with four alternatives. He could enter: the upper course, which provided general education plus specialization in an area of production; a medium professional school or technicum, which provided a specialized education; a professional technical college, which prepared him for production in the economy; or the so-called miscellaneous training, which included courses organized by plants, factories, and cooperatives.
At the same time the new law provided for the improvement of teacher training. All teachers who taught in the fifth level or above were required to have a university education or its equivalent. Teachers who taught in kindergartens or the first to fourth levels were required to take a three-year course after the obligatory twelve-year course of schooling.
The reforms were later criticized, however, on much more far-reaching grounds. Some felt that technical specialization was stressed to such an extreme that the liberal arts were altogether ignored. Some complained that, although students were overburdened with superfluous details of overspecialized subjects, teachers were still basically unprepared to teach these subjects. Others felt that there was a lack of correlation between the work that the student had to perform and his or her area of expertise. Still others realized that there was a basic clash between the managers who supervised the worker-students and the students themselves.
Despite much criticism about the reforms, in terms of bare statistics they were successful in greatly increasing the emphasis on technical-vocational training. Although the number of primary and secondary students remained approximately at the same level and the number of primary and secondary schools declined drastically, there was a tremendous increase in technical-vocational schools, students, and teachers.
In 1967 there was another wave of educational reform in Bulgaria, as well as in all of Eastern Europe, that once again changed the direction of education. Although most Eastern European countries began to deemphasize polytechnic instruction, Bulgaria's course was more cautious and ambivalent. On the one hand, Bulgarian educators stated that the time allotted for practical training would be increased, while on the other hand, efforts were made to reintroduce the humanities into the curriculum. In the last three grades of the upper course, the curriculum was divided into two branches: natural science and mathematics, and the humanities. The number of general education subjects was gradually increased, and there was renewed emphasis on foreign languages and the social sciences.
By 1969, however, authorities once again perceived certain problems in the educational system and proposed counteracting reforms. One problem was the relative cost of higher education, which was expanding, as compared to the cost of primary education, which was both cheaper and contracting. A second problem was the question of the availability of trained persons for the national economy because of the long periods of schooling then required. It was argued that by the time a young man had completed his education and his military training, he was twenty-five or twenty-six years old. A third problem was the intense competition for places in higher education and other postsecondary institutions. In 1969 approximately 70,000 to 75,000 students leaving secondary schools competed with each other for 20,000 places at the university level. A fourth problem was whether the polytechnic school should place primary emphasis on trade specialization or on academic subjects.
In the same year serious thought was given to the solution of these problems, and tentative measures were proposed. The major thrust of these proposals was to enable students to meet the needs of the economy by shortening the period of overall education. It was proposed that a unified polytechnic school, which would fuse general and professional elements of education, would replace the current, professionally oriented polytechnic school. At the same time children would enter school at the age of six, instead of the customary seven. The secondary polytechnic school would be a ten-year instead of a twelve-year course, allowing students to graduate at the age of sixteen. Most courses in higher education would be reduced from five to four years, enabling students to complete all levels of education by the age of twenty rather than twenty-five.
The reforms would perhaps have a greater impact on the secondary system than the other levels, as they envisioned a completely unified secondary school system in which professional and general education would be fused. Specialization in liberal arts, mathematics and economics, chemistry and biology, social sciences, and foreign languages would be offered.