Access to education in Bulgaria
Pre-school education.
Applications for the admission of children of preschool age from Ukraine to study at Bulgarian state and municipal kindergartens are submitted to 28 Regional Education Offices (REO) in the country's regional cities. List of REO at the link: https://www.mon.bg/bg/324.
Applications are accepted on site at the REO or via e-mail address specified on the REO website, to which the child's parent/guardian/custodian/representative can submit an application for the child's admission to state or municipal kindergartens.
Children of preschool age from Ukraine are sent to state and municipal kindergartens after granting the status of temporary protection.
Children of preschool age from Ukraine can be enrolled in kindergartens after:
- referral of a child by the head of the REO for admission to the appropriate kindergarten;
- presentation of the child's medical document to the head of the kindergarten;
- conducting an interview and directing the child to a certain preparatory group of preschool education.
After enrolling a child in a certain kindergarten group, the director ensures:
- additional training in Bulgarian as a foreign language;
- psychological support in case of need, as well as other measures for the general support of the child's personal development;
- if necessary, additional support for the child's personal development, including resource support for a child with special educational needs.
School education.
Education in Bulgaria is compulsory for children up to the age of 16 and is free in municipal and state schools.
The academic year begins on September 15 and ends between May 24 and June 30.
There is one compulsory year of pre-school education for children at the age of 5/6 years. Children go to first grade at the age of 6/7 years.
Education is divided into four stages (primary school up to the 4th grade, pro-gymnasium up to the 7th grade, the first gymnasium stage - up to the 10th grade and the second gymnasium stage - up to the 12th grade), each of which ends with an exam.
Education is conducted in Bulgarian, and a foreign language is actively studied from the initial stage.
There are general education schools and gymnasiums of professional direction with different linguistic and practical profiles.
To enroll a child in school, you should:
1) Fill out a special application for admission of a child to school.
The application can be downloaded from the web portal by the link https://ukraine.gov.bg/ua/education/.
You can also fill out an application at the Regional Education Office (REO). Such institutions are located in all 28 regional centres of Bulgaria.
List of REO at the link: https://www.mon.bg/bg/324.
To apply, you must have temporary or international protection.
2) Submit an application to the Regional Education Office in your region.
This can be done in person or by email. However, it is better to go to the place to explain your child's educational path to the specialists there.
Within seven days after submitting the application, your child will be sent to a particular school based on your address, the child's profile and the capabilities of the education system. You will receive information from the Regional Education Office, by phone or e-mail.
3) Go to the school specified by the Regional Education Office.
If your child does not have a certificate of completion of a certain class from Ukraine, he/she will be enrolled in the corresponding class according to age, on the condition that it is education up to 4th grade.
In other cases, the school committee appointed by the school director will determine the class in which the child will study, after an interview with him/her and you. In this case, after enrollment during the academic year, the child will need to pass exams for the previous grade.
If your child has a certificate of completion of a certain class from Ukraine, he/she will be enrolled after this certificate is recognized. For grades from 1 to 6, this is done by the school director, for grades from 7 to 12, you need to re-submit an application for recognition of documents to the Regional Education Office.
Please note that in order to ensure the safety of children at school, health authorities in Bulgaria require all pupils to have mandatory vaccinations.
Health documents must be presented to the director when you go to enroll your child in school.
More information at the link: https://refugeelight.bg/bg/articles/zapisvane-na-deca-v-uchilische.
• Electronic textbooks for children from Ukraine.
The "e-prosveta" platform is launching a Ukrainian "class" created for children from Ukraine. As of today, more than 160 electronic versions of textbooks for grades from 1 to 11 are available in Ukrainian on the platform, which can be used free of charge.
Check out the available textbooks here.
Higher Education.
Bulgarian universities themselves establish the terms of admission of students, the amount of study fees, the order of organization of the educational process, as well as all other issues of activity of a specific higher education institution.
Recognition of higher education diplomas obtained at foreign universities.
Recognition of higher education obtained at foreign universities, including Ukrainian universities, is carried out by various competent bodies of Bulgaria depending on the objectives of the requested recognition.
If you want to continue your education in Bulgaria after completing the period of study or obtaining a scientific degree in a foreign higher education institution, for recognition of your diploma you need to contact the rector of the accredited Bulgarian higher education institution to which you are applying.
The National Center for Information and Documentation (NACID) under the Ministry of Education and Science organizes the procedure for academic recognition of bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as doctor's degrees in order to facilitate access to the professional market.
Required documents are a diploma of higher education and an appendix to it. They must be accompanied by a legalized translation into Bulgarian. The translator's signature requires notarization. More information about the academic recognition procedure can be found on the NACID website: https://nacid.bg/.
List of universities in Bulgaria at the link: https://rvu.nacid.bg/home.
Search for universities in Bulgaria according to your desired specialty by the link: https://rvu.nacid.bg/specialities.
Bulgarian language courses.
- Mondly provides its courses free of charge to all Ukrainians relocated to European countries. The app provides premium content for Ukrainians and offers courses for 25 European languages, including Bulgarian. In order to unlock free courses for Ukrainians, Ukrainian must be a native language during registration. The language learning app is available online or from mobile for iOS and Android.
- UNHCR: Bulgarian language textbooks for people running away from hostilities in Ukraine, for levels A1, A2 and B1, including audio files: find out more here.
- Caritas Sofia: Interactive materials for learning Bulgarian: find out more here.
- Free online lessons on the Bulgarian language at the link: https://cutt.ly/TGwrLHJ.
- The State Agency for Refugees offers language courses when accepting applications for international protection.
