Bulgarian school becomes first in Europe to make chess part of curriculum

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi everyone,

A high school in Bulgaria has become the first in Europe to introduce chess as a compulsory subject for all its students. Those behind the project want the idea to be extended across the continent.

  

In a classroom on the top floor of the Eurostandard High School in central Sofia, a group of pupils are laying out chess sets ready for their next lesson. At the beginning of the school year, these pupils became the first in Europe to take chess classes as an obligatory subject. It's a pilot project initiated in partnership with the European Chess Union. The program is designed to promote chess among young people throughout Europe.

"We care about our children of the new generation in Europe, so of course we want to give them the best, that's why we need to promote chess," Boyko Hristov from the European Chess Union told Deutsche Welle. "That's why our partnership became a reality."

The children at Eurostandard are the lucky ones. It's a private high school, which specialises in preparing elite students for careers in banking, finance and insurance. There are just 50 pupils, aged 14 to 18. Hristov hopes this school will be the first of many. He said the Bulgarian Ministry of Education has expressed an interest in introducing chess classes in the public school system, but there's one major stumbling block. Read the full story at this link.

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