A parents group asked Bulgaria’s president Georgi Purvanov on May 19 to veto the amendments to the Education Act, which will re-introduce school-leaving examinations starting this year.

In its letter, the Movement of Parents for Quality Education said that the group was "seriously concerned" about the quality and legitimacy of the upcoming exams, as the amendments to the Education Act contradict other sections of the same law. Some amendments also breached the laws against discrimination.

According to the group, the way the exams will be conducted would be “exceptionally unprofessional, unfair and not acceptable for Bulgarian citizens”, as well as breaching European standards and norms.

The parents’ movement asked to meet Purvanov to be able to discuss their claims in person and to show additional arguments supporting their request for a veto on the amendments.

The group said that the criteria for evaluation of the exams were not clear, no preparatory materials for the exams were available, and no test examinations would be conducted in advance. They also said there were no state-approved education requirements concerning the literary Bulgarian language, one of the mandatory examinations.

“As parents and citizens of this country, we are more than troubled by this development,” the letter read. “We firmly support conducting school-leaving exams in 2008, as well as exams to follow, but we are against the coming into force of a law that make pointless the whole idea of the school-leaving exams and transforms them into an imitation,” the parents said.