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Vasil Levski Revisited

Levski's personality and Bulgarian roots unite children in two Sunday schools in Athens and on the island of Crete

Photo: Bulgarian School "Vasil Levski", Athens

In the late autumn of 2009, patriotic Bulgarians - parents and teachers working and living in Athens - founded a Bulgarian school named Paisiy Hilendarski (St Paisius of Hilendar). 

Two years later, a second school was opened on the island of Crete. Both schools are part of the "Ivan Seliminski Cultural Centre - Greek-Bulgarian Association for Culture" and in 2018, by a decision of the General Assembly of the Association, they were both renamed "Vasil Levski". Maya Lungolova
Thanks to the efforts of teachers, parents and members of the organisation, the educational and extra-curricular activities of the students in Athens take place in an administrative building in the centre of the Greek capital. It has separate classrooms for teaching Bulgarian language and literature, history and geography. There are also classrooms for high school and junior high school students, as well as for primary and pre-school children. The building also has a school auditorium, where dance and theatre performances and film screenings are held, and a private library. There is also a room where parents can wait for their children while they study.

"Bulgarian language and literature is taught in both schools," said Maya Lungolova, president of the association, in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. - We have children from pre-school to high school. 

Apart from Bulgarian language and literature, they study geography, economics, Bulgarian history and civilisations. The schools work in compliance with Regulation No. 90 of the Ministry of Education and teach strictly following the curriculum for Bulgarian schools abroad. Extra-curricular activities are also organised to promote Bulgarian culture and traditions. These include drama, music and choral singing. We hope to add piano lessons to our activities. We also run courses for preparing prospective university students. In cooperation with the Sofia University we organise exams and certificates from A1 to C2".
The two schools have branches in Nafplio and Kalamata. They are attended by the children of Bulgarian families living and working in Athens and Crete. Some of the children are from mixed marriages, especially in the Nafplio school. According to Maya Lungolova, the children like coming to school because they have made friends there. Of course, there are also children who do not understand why they have to go to a Bulgarian school. For their part, the teachers try to motivate them by pointing out the advantages of our language and how it can help them find a suitable job when they grow up.

The total number of children is 118 in Athens, Kalamata and Nafplio and 52 in Crete.
Among the activities that the children are most enthusiastic about are the events connected to the feasts of their patron saint and Vasil Levski:

"Both in the past and now, we traditionally hold competitions that were originally only for the schools in Athens," says Maya Lungolova, adding, "for you know that there are other Bulgarian schools in Athens. The competitions were about different things related to Vasil Levski's personality. The results of these competitions were then presented at the celebrations of the Apostle at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Athens".150th Anniversary of Vasil Levski celebrations at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Athens.
In the last two years the competition has expanded. First, it involved all the Bulgarian schools in Greece, which participated with drawings and essays, and in 2023 it became an international competition, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Levski's hanging. The theme was: "Vasil Levski facing the world and the court" and many children participated:

"Every single letter, every single email, every single essay that came in shook me," Maya Lungolova recalls with emotion. - We received emails and letters from 150 schools, maybe even more, from Bulgaria and from Bulgarian Sunday schools from all over Europe. 

They all participated, and the competition aimed to show the students and everyone else that the hanging of Vasil Levski was not an accident. The Ottoman Empire tried him and his activities, according to the Empire's laws, involving both reporters and diplomats. We gave the students all this background information, archive material and books, so that they could write essays based on what they read, participate as reporters or eyewitnesses, and the younger ones had the opportunity to make a comic strip. It was really very exciting. 
Because of their active work in the patriotic education of Bulgarian children in Greece and the activities aimed at learning more about the historical facts about the Apostle of Freedom, the "Vasil Levski" schools in Athens and on the island of Crete are part of Radio Bulgaria's Vasil Levski Revisited initiative.

Photos: Bulgarian School "Vasil Levski", Bulgarian Sunday School "Paisiy Hilendarski" (Athens), Bulgarian School "Vasil Levski" (Cyprus), Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, Facebook / Ivan Seliminski Cultural Centre
Translated and posted by Elizabeth Radkova


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