site.btaBulgarian Embassy in Serbia's First Secretary: Over a Decade Strong, Belgrade's Sunday School Thrives with Students

Children are enthusiastic and eager to attend the Lyuben Karavelov Bulgarian Sunday School in Belgrade, and they stay dedicated to the school, even though it adds to their workload, the First Secretary at the Bulgarian Embassy in Serbia Nedyalko Iliev, responsible for the school’s activities, said on Friday after the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to the Bulgarian journalist, writer and revolutionary Lyuben Karavelov in the Consular Service of the Bulgarian Embassy.

Iliev gave BTA Director Kiril Valchev and other guests of the plaque unveiling event a tour of the Sunday school's facilities. He mentioned that the school usually has 30 to 40 students, many of whom have historically been children of embassy staff. At present, most of the students come from families who live permanently in Belgrade.

"This year, we have four teachers and a total of six classes. We have three rooms available. Classes are held on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday," Iliev said. He added that there was previously a shortage of teachers, but this issue has now been resolved.

The school was founded over 10 years ago and has been financed under the Bulgarian Education and Science Ministry's Language and Culture Abroad Programme since the 2015/2016 school year.

Among those present at the presentation of the Bulgarian Sunday School in Belgrade and the unveiling of the Lyuben Karavelov plaque were Bulgarian Ambassador in Belgrade Petko Doykov; Angel Angelov, Head of the Bilateral Relations General Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Momchil Raichevski, Director of the Southeast Europe Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dimitar Tsanev, Consul General of Bulgaria in Nis; Milen Mitev, Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio and Chairman of the Union of Bulgarian National Electronic Media; Gospodin Yovchev, Chief Operating Officer of bTV Media Group; Hristo Hristov, Executive Director of the Bulgarian National Darik Radio; Anton Andonov, Member of the Board of the Bulgarian National Television; Zoran Djurov, President of the Municipal Council of Tsaribrod; and representatives of the Bulgarian community in Serbia from Belgrade, Tsaribrod, Bosilegrad and Vojvodina.

Bulgarian musician Theodosii Spassov was also a guest at the event, performing the melody to Karavelov's poem You Are Beautiful, My Forest on the kaval, and all attendees joined in the performance of the lyrics.