Over 60 participants from 15 countries are gathering in the capital of Portugal to discuss innovative methods and materials for teaching the history and geography of Bulgaria in Bulgarian schools abroad. The patron of the forum is Vice President Iliana Iotova, the organizers are the Ministry of Education and Science, the Portuguese-Bulgarian Association "St. St. Cyril and Methodius", the Sunday school of the same name in Lisbon, in partnership with the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad, the Paisii Hilendarski University in Plovdiv and the University of Lisbon.

Within two days, teachers from the Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad, experts from the Ministry of Education and Culture, doctoral students of the Paisii Hilendarski University will get to know the possibilities that innovations provide for a more attractive and engaging teaching of the history and geography of Bulgaria – two of the compulsory subjects for Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad, along with the Bulgarian language.

Among the challenges facing our education system is the retention of high school students in Bulgarian Sunday schools, of which there are over 400 in different parts of the world. And also - the recognition of the Bulgarian language as a matriculation language and the application to a university in Bulgaria, which is often delayed due to the later issuance of diplomas for secondary education by foreign educational systems.

An important element of the educational process in Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad is the dissemination of information about it and the inclusion of the public media. 

Serious experience in this regard has also been gained by the international programme of the Bulgarian National Radio - "Radio Bulgaria", which recently celebrated 88 years since its creation and which maintains a website with rich up-to-date and informative content about Bulgaria in 11 languages. Therefore, at the meeting in Lisbon, Radio Bulgaria was represented by its editor-in-chief Krasimir Martinov.

At the end of the forum, on March 16, the participants will visit the Bulgarian Sunday School "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" in Lisbon in order to exchange practical experience and to continue their noble cause - to convey knowledge about Bulgaria to Bulgarians who live far from its borders.

Photos: Pixabay, BGNES, Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad, Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad