When the Communists came to power they stipulated that private schools could continue only if they had express permission from the government and were operated under governmental authority. In the early years of communist rule, diplomatic missions continued to operate schools for the children of foreign emissaries. In 1973, however, the only private schools were the secondary school, known in Bulgaria as a seminary, and the Ecclesiastical Academy of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
In addition to these special schools, there are technical and vocational schools of various kinds that are not part of the regular school system. Between secondary and higher technical schools fall the advanced technicums, which function on a postsecondary level. Courses generally run from two to three years, depending on the field of specialization. There are advanced technicums for such specializations as mining, medicine, veterinary medicine, and industrial chemistry. All schools include courses in Marxism-Leninism, higher mathematics, and physical education in addition to the courses of specialization. Also on the technical-vocational level are six-month training courses that are organized by factories, cooperatives, and other enterprises. These courses are designed to improve the workers' skills or to retrain workers for other areas of specialization. These courses include both theoretical studies and practical work.
Evening courses, correspondence courses, refresher courses, and special research programs are also numerous in the country. Workers up to thirty years of age who have not completed their elementary education are urged to attend evening schools—known in Bulgaria as shift courses—or correspondence courses. In both types of school the average length of study is from one to three years, depending on the amount of elementary education completed. Once these courses are completed, the worker may continue in either a secondary polytechnic or a vocational school. Eventually, he may go on to an institution of higher education. Refresher courses, on the other hand, are at the higher education level and are provided for industrial specialists in order to keep them abreast of the latest developments in science and technology. Teachers and researchers are encouraged to hold research fellowships that function under the various institutions of higher education as well as the Academy of Sciences.
The final component of specialized education is conducted by the party. Based on Marxism-Leninism, it is geared to indoctrinate party members but is provided for nonparty members as well. The objectives of this form of education were summed up by Georgi Dimitrov, premier of the country from 1946 until 1949, who stated that these schools are to prepare "individuals in the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism ... in order that they become independent practical organizers and leaders, capable of leading the masses in the struggle against the class enemy." The instructors of party education are trained at the Institute for Political Instruction of the Central Committee of the BKP, which in turn supervises the work of the Central Leninist Party School. In addition to the general dissemination of party policy by these instructors, there are both formal study circles and political schools that present two-year courses in the history of both the Bulgarian and the Soviet communist parties.
CHAPTER 7
ARTISTIC AND INTELLECTUAL EXPRESSION
Bulgaria has a proud cultural heritage that dates to early medieval times. During the Golden Age (A.D. 893-927) of the first and second Bulgarian kingdom, Bulgarian arts and letters dominated the Slavic world. Exposed to the flourishing culture of neighboring Byzantium, Bulgarians absorbed its influence, adapted it to their own Slavic culture and language, and then spread it among the less advanced Slavic peoples in the Balkans and to the north.
After the Turkish conquest in 1396, cultural development was retarded for several centuries until the drive for liberation in the nineteenth century rekindled its creative spark. In contrast to the Golden Age, however, when Bulgarian culture was widespread, modern artistic and intellectual expression tended to be provincial in both its audience and its content. After independence, although interest in cultural and intellectual matters was high, support for it was restricted to a minority in Sofia and in a few of the largest towns. The government made some contribution to the country's artistic development through small subsidies to institutions and government jobs for artists and intellectuals, but the subsidies were not always on the basis of merit.