Soon after the communist takeover the combined elementary-secondary period of schooling was reduced from twelve to eleven years. The objectives of a secondary education were described in the following terms: "the general promotion of the physical and intellectual development of adolescents, the weaning of their minds from extreme nationalist and reactionary ideas, the inculcation of the spirit of progress, and preparation for creative participation in the economic and cultural life of the country." The curriculum of the secondary schools was changed in order to incorporate these goals. Latin and Greek were no longer required, but Russian became compulsory. A new subject called general history subsumed within it the old studies of religion, ethics, political economy, and Bulgarian. Astronomy was added to the new curriculum.
Between 1949 and 1959 other changes were introduced in the secondary school system. There were then two principal forms of secondary education: the general school and the technical school. Grades eight to eleven of the general school, which were considered part of secondary education, included study of Bulgarian language and literature; Russian; French, German, or English; mathematics; physics; astronomy; chemistry; biology; history; constitutional history; geography; psychology and logic; geometrical drawing; and physical education.
Technicums and vocational-technical secondary schools, on the other hand, offered courses ranging from two to five years that gave the student a specialized education. Graduates of the eleven-year general school attended these schools for two years; students who had completed less than eleven years attended for three to five years. In 1952 labor reserve schools were established. These factory schools offered one-year or two-year training programs to young people from fourteen to seventeen years of age who had already completed their elementary education.
During the 1960s the new polytechnic secondary school was introduced in order to incorporate the elements of a general and specialized education into one system. Although this type of secondary education continued to be the main form of secondary education, it was criticized on two seemingly paradoxical counts. One group of critics claimed that the polytechnic school gave the student neither a sound general education nor a solid base in professional training. Another group claimed that the polytechnic school was both too narrow and too technical, depriving the student of a broad background in general areas.