ulated in large part by Father Paisi, a monk who wrote the
first Bulgarian history, _The Slav-Bulgarian History_. This work and
Father Paisi's teachings provided an incentive for the development of
education in the country. From 1762 until liberation from Turkish rule
in 1878, education made great strides. As the churches began to throw
off the domination of the Greek Orthodox Church, more church schools
staffed by monks and priests were established within the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church framework.

Although the Greek educational system still predominated in the early
part of the nineteenth century, complemented by a rising move toward the
establishment of Bulgarian Orthodox Church schools, a movement toward
secular education was initiated at this time. Secular subjects were
introduced in the church schools, and communal schools were established.
By 1834 the first primer in Bulgarian was written, based on a western
European model, which established the basis for secondary education. In
1835 a wealthy merchant founded the first Bulgarian high school, and
within the next ten years some fifty schools had been established.

At the time of liberation, however, over 90 percent of the population
over school age was still illiterate. Only a small proportion--some 30
percent--of school-age children, those from seven to fourteen years of
age, were actually attending schools. After the Turnovo Constitution
(1879), however, which was enacted shortly after liberation, the
educational system was revitalized (see ch. 8). Elementary education
was made both free and compulsory. The state, the monarchy, and private
individuals contributed to the goal of making education as nearly
universal as possible.

In 1879 the three-year compulsory elementary school was introduced. By
1880 the period of compulsory education had been extended to four years.
In 1888 the University of Sofia was founded. The university initially
had seven faculties: history and philosophy; physics and mathematics;
law; medicine; agronomy; theology; and veterinary medicine.

In 1910 the school system, which covered a twelve-year period, consisted
of a four-year elementary school for children aged seven to eleven, a
three-year _progymnasium_ for children from eleven to fourteen, and a
five-year gymnasium for children from fourteen to eighteen. This system
continued with only slight modification until the Communists took over
in 1944. Also by 1910 both professional and vo