BTA, Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad sign partnership agreement
Baku, July 17, AZERTAC
The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) and the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad (ABSA) signed a partnership agreement on Friday at BTA's National Press Club in Sofia. The agreement was signed by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev and Zornitsa Gogan, Chair of the ABSA Management Board.
Valchev recalled that, according to information provided by the Education Ministry a few days ago during a parliamentary committee hearing, for the 2025–2026 school year, the Ministry is supporting 401 Bulgarian Sunday schools in 43 countries across six continents. In addition, more than 2,000 places are being provided for students from Bulgarian communities abroad, Valchev noted.
The Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad already has a long history. It was established on 15 August 2007 in Plovdiv, and since July of last year, it has been chaired by Zornitsa Gogan, who is also the principal of the Raina Knyaginya Bulgarian Sunday School in Dublin and Cork, Ireland, he explained.
Valchev also commented on how the Association's activities have been covered by the BTA over the past decade.
"At the beginning of that period, in 2016, there were three news reports. In 2017, there was one. The Association received only one BTA report per year until 2021, when we established the specialized BG World section," Valchev said.
According to him, the BG World section published more than 9,000 news items about Bulgarians around the world over the past year. A significant proportion of these were about Bulgarian schools abroad. Specifically, the desk published 41 news reports about the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad throughout last year. News about ABSA is also published in BTA's English-language news service, the BTA Director General noted.
He also recalled that the 19th Annual Conference of the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad will take place in Sofia next week and will be covered by BTA.
ABSA Management Board Chair Zornitsa Gogan expressed her gratitude to the BTA team.
"Surprisingly, we had never had such an agreement over the years, even though the Association has existed for 19 years," she said, adding, "BTA has been one of our most important partners in covering our activities."
According to Valchev, the agreement provides for two main areas of cooperation.
"The first is the regular exchange of information about the Association and its members. Through the Association, we can establish contact with schools with which we currently have no direct communication, ensuring that we receive at least one news item per month from each of the 401 Bulgarian schools abroad. The second important aspect is that the agreement also regulates the copyright of the materials we receive, primarily photographs, but also certain video materials," the BTA Director General said.
The BTA Director General also invited Gogan to attend the 21st World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, which will take place from 18 to 21 October in Budapest and Esztergom.
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