site.bta1,435 Schools Closed Since 1991, Number of Students Nearly Halved

Since 1991, 1,435 schools have been closed and the number of students has dropped from 1,366, 927 to 708,628 said Education Minister Nikolay Denkov during Question Time in Parliament. Of these 630 were primary schools, 776 were elementary schools and 29 were secondary schools.

The main reason is the country’s changing demographics.

Denkov said that the depopulation of regions leads to socio-economic and infrastructural differences and different access to quality education for students across municipalities and regions. This results in merged classes and lack of qualified teachers. Such organization of the education process places students on unequal terms with regard to education, socialization and exam taking. The demographic problems in the country have affected worst small population centres and the majority of closed schools are there, said Minister Denkov.