The Cabinet has approved amendments to the Education Act that will seriously reorganise the country's primary and secondary education system should they be passed by Parliament.

At its March 26 2009 weekly session the Cabinet accepted the draft bill of Education Minister Daniel Vulchev which was turned down a week ago when Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev was out of the country and Disaster Management Minister Emel Etem presided over the session.

At that time Etem refused to include the draft bill on the agenda because "it has not been discussed among the three ruling parties".

This led to a negative reaction from Vulchev who considers the project a priority for his term that is due to expire in four months along with elections to Parliament.

With Stanishev back in the country the draft bill was supported by the Government and sent to Parliament for further discussion and final approval.

The main changes concern the organisational structure of the system of primary and secondary education.

The bill envisages that education in Bulgaria will be compulsory from first until 10^th grade. This means that pupils can graduate from secondary education at the age of 16 or 17 depending on what age they started first grade (six or seven years old).

Under the current system high-school children graduate at the age of 18 after 12^th or 13^th class depending on what school they go to – language, technical or art.

The new law stipulates that once every stage of education is completed students will be examined by external testing services, not by the schools themselves.

Critics of the amendments, however, claim that it says nothing about changes to teaching methods or the content of textbooks.

The draft bill also bans students and teachers from wearing religious symbols that openly manifest religious beliefs while in school. Such a ban exists already, not under the Education Act but in other regulations of the ministry, and this would mark the first time that they will be included in law if approved.

The draft bill is expected to trigger much debate in Parliament given looming elections.