Every year, on September 15 - the first school day in Bulgaria - the curious mind asks: why exactly on this date? Why does the school year start on September 15 in Bulgaria? The answer comes from historical references about the beginning and the end of the school year in the Bulgarian lands before and after the Liberation (Bulgaria's Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878– ed.) These reports, regulations and other documents are kept in the National Museum of Education in Gabrovo.

"During the Renaissance in the monastery schools established in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the school year was not linked to a specific date - says historian Veselin Lazarov, chief curator at the museum. - In some places it was taught only in winter, in others - all year round, and the school closed its doors only during church holidays. 

Recreation of a monastery school at the National Museum of Education - Gabrovo.

This is what the a mutual tuition classroom looked like presented at the National Museum of Education - Gabrovo.

A public exam in Gabrovo school at the end of the school year (Petrovden). Students demonstrate their knowledge and the best students receive a book as a gift.

Start of the school year in the village of Draganovo сх 1904/05 г.

Gabrovo, 15 September 1980.

In 2011, the then education minister Sergey Ignatov made an unsuccessful attempt to bring back the date of 1 September. In 2022, there was another effort to reintroduce the start of the school year on the 1st or on the 7th of September.

But this year, once again, all students in the country start school on September 15.

Good luck to them and their teachers!