Bulgaria's Overachievers

Despite their striking teachers, children in Bulgarian schools have proved to be some of the smartest in all of Europe. In fact, according to an international survey by the PIRLS Centre of Boston College, fourth graders in Bulgaria read and write better than their peers in Europe, and were outshined only by children from Russia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The survey results were determined by reading and writing tests given to schoolchildren all around the country, in which Bulgarian children scored only sixty-five points below their Russian peers. While the Bulgarian Education Minister, Daniel Vulchev, is please with the results, he stressed that now Bulgarian schools must work hard to keep their place at the forefront of Europe's education system.