site.btaBulgarian Minority in Serbia Holds 7th Regular Session of Its National Council in Bosilegrad

Issues related to education, access to information, culture and the official use of Bulgarian language and script were discussed during the 7th regular session of the National Council of the Bulgarian minority in Serbia. The session took place in the building of the municipal administration in Bosilegrad.

Among the topics discussed was the provision of free textbooks and teaching aids for students studying in their native Bulgarian language. The school in Bosilegrad has seven classes taught in Bulgarian, while in Tsaribrod there will be no such class for the first grade in the next school year.

On the issue of access to information in Bulgarian, it was pointed out that the National Council is the founder of media organisations such as Nova Radio TV Bosilegrad and Novo Bratstvo, which it funds. The work in the field of culture was also touched upon, as it was made clear that the National Council continues to support a number of cultural events and projects in the Bulgarian minority areas.

In relation to the official use of the Bulgarian language and script, the issuance of bilingual documents and the need to motivate employees in municipal administrations to respect the rules for the use of the mother tongue were discussed.

The session ended with a positive assessment of the work of the National Council by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.