site.btaNation's First Secular School Marks 188th Anniversary

Bulgaria's oldest secular school, the National Aprilov High School in Gabrovo, marked the 188th anniversary of its establishment on Friday. Vice President Iliana Iotova, Regional Governor Kristina Sidorova and her deputy Andrey Nikolov, Aprilov High School Principal Elvira Hristova and BTA Director General Kiril Valchev laid floral tributes at the monument to the school’s patron and founder, Vassil  Aprilov.

Addressing the assembly in front of the monument, Iotova wished everyone to be "charged with the same love for their country as those who built the first New Bulgarian school had”, as the Bulgarians today need the energy that flows from the building, from the classrooms, from the spirit and atmosphere that the ancestors bequeathed. “For the Aprilov High School not only writes its own history, it writes the history of our homeland," she said.

Later, BTA Director General Valchev announced the names of the three students whom BTA will support on their way in the future. Beginning with an internship at the local press club until April this year, they will report on life at their school, as well as on other news items for BTA.

The internship in Gabrovo will be followed by five days at the BTA headquarters in Sofia. There the students will get acquainted with the work of the news agency and its departments, attend news conferences and meet the team. All three will study at Bulgarian universities, with BTA supporting the star student by appointing him or her while still at the university, to be followed by a five-year contract at the BTA Gabrovo office upon graduation.

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The first Bulgarian secular school was opened in Gabrovo on January 2, 1835 thanks to patriotic donors like Vassil Aprilov, Nikola Palauzov and Vassil Rasheev, among others. From 1872 the school became the First Comprehensive High School in the Bulgarian lands under domination. In 1889 it adopted the name of its donor, Vassil Aprilov, and became the Aprilov High School. In 1988 the school acquired high school status, and that of a national school - in 1992, acquiring the name of National Aprilov High School.

On November 24, 2022 BTA and the National Aprilov High School signed a cooperation agreement in the field of joint work and in-depth coverage of the school's activities.