established only by the passage of a law; such
schools are placed under State control...."

Statements in subsequent constitutions indicated an increased emphasis
on the socialist content of education and its close ties with the Soviet
model on which it was based. In 1949 the government issued a statement
declaring that education would be "in the spirit of socialism,
proletarian internationalism, and indissoluble brotherly friendship with
the Soviet Union." Two years later the government stated that "the
people's school is a powerful weapon in the hands of the Communist Party
and the people's democratic state for education and Communist
indoctrination of the people." In the present-day period both Todor
Zhivkov, who is the first secretary of the party, and the minister of
national education (formerly known as the minister of public education)
have reinforced the purpose and function of education in a socialist
society. In 1966 the minister of national education stated: "The work of
the school, its major and minor tasks--everything for which it
exists--must be subordinated to its fundamental objective: training and
educating the new man of communist society."

Certain distinctive principles form the basis for communist policies of
education in Bulgaria. Chief among these is the close patterning of the
system on the Soviet model. For this reason Bulgaria tends to be
somewhat cautious in its approach to education and reluctant to make
sweeping reforms unless the Soviets provide a model for change.

The principle of a universally accessible system of education has top
priority, and in fact the near-universal nature of education in Bulgaria
has brought about almost complete literacy. Whereas before 1944 many
Bulgarians had never attended school, in mid-1973 almost every Bulgarian
was able to attend some form of school. In some areas of the educational
system, particularly in institutions of higher education, the number of
students has increased as much as eightfold.

Another principle of communist education in Bulgaria is the concept of
socially useful work, which must be performed by all students at all
levels of education. The principle of work in education is initiated at
the very lowest levels of the system; it progresses into increasingly
longer periods as the student advances in the school system. In the
higher grades, students work for significant periods of time in
agriculture, industry, and construction. In the h