In 1948 and 1949 another series of reforms was initiated, which, although less sweeping than the original reforms, tended to pattern the Bulgarian school system more closely on that of the Soviet Union. In August 1949 a joint resolution of the BKP Central Committee and the Council of Ministers declared that education would be carried out in the spirit of socialism, based both on the teachings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and on Bulgarian friendship with the Soviet Union. The ideological studies introduced into the curriculum consisted of the fundamental principles of Marx and Lenin, the history of the communist party of the Soviet Union, and the history of the BKP. All of these subjects became obligatory from kindergarten.
The second initiative in the 1948-49 reforms was the declaration that all universities and institutions of higher education as well as the Academy of Sciences were no longer autonomous. A third reform during this period was the reduction from five to four years of the gymnasium, which in turn reduced the total schooling from twelve to eleven years. The fourth reform was the redesigning of polytechnic education to greatly increase the number of trained graduates to fill the rapidly escalating demands of the economy.
In statistical terms the results of the various communist reforms were mixed. Although the number of primary and secondary schools increased slightly overall from 1938 to 1948, there was hardly any appreciable growth in primary schools, whereas secondary schools nearly doubled. The number of students, similarly, barely changed in the same ten-year period; the number of primary students actually declined, but the number of secondary students grew appreciably (see table 6; table 7).
Higher education, on the other hand, made great strides after the communist takeover as the number of universities and other institutions of higher education increased by one-third. Despite the emphasis on technical and vocational education, such schools dropped in terms of facilities, students, and teachers during the early communist years. The number of teachers of polytechnic subjects also declined during the period (see table 8).
_Table 6. Number of Schools in Bulgaria, Selected Years, 1938-70_