There are three girls in Plamen Alexandrov’s high school. Or so his classmates say; he, personally, has only seen one of them on the campus of the Professional High School for Consumer and Transport Electronics (Професионална гимназия по битова и електротранспортна техника).

Plamen finds it surprising that there are only three female students, but reasons that “it’s a man’s profession”. Relations among students at the school are good, which he infers is due to the fact that there are so few girls, thus, less impetus for macho behaviour.

Students seem to like the teachers, but “students are not always very respectful,” he says, and this bothers him. The methods of teaching at this particular school are good, as are the job prospects after, which is why he chose it – there will always be a need for electrical installations to be done.

In truth, this is only his first year at the school, though Plamen’s final year of secondary school. A two-year hiatus in Athens, Greece, for professional sport training menat he was not able to re-take his position at Sofia’s elite National High School in Finance and Business (Националната финансово-стопанска гимназия) when he returned to Bulgaria this past May. Despite that disappointment, he remains positive about his future at the professional high school, stressing the practical advantages – but not about the Bulgarian system of education.

“In general, education is at a good level in Bulgaria, but the system of teaching is a bit mixed-up,” he says. “The things we learn are very difficult, even from when we’re little.” He shares the example of his little cousin, who, in second grade along with the rest of her classmates, started learning English. “And they do not even know Bulgarian well yet!” he says.

In addition, the teachers themselves often do not have a sufficient grasp of the material that they are attempting to teach.

And, “there’s no discipline. The teachers are not respected by the students. It’s the fault of the state, the families and the teachers”.

Covert frustration seeps out as he talks about the nation-wide teachers’ strike, now in its fourth week.

“Strikes will improve (their) situation to a certain level. It’s true that (teachers) get little pay. You cannot live in Sofia on 300 leva a month, but they’re asking for a bit too much: you cannot raise salaries by 100 per cent all at once,” Plamen says. “And in the end, it’s we, the students, who lose. They’ll take our holidays away, and if (the teachers) continue to strike, this year won’t count at all. We’ll have to repeat it.”

He believes that, yes, salaries should be increased, but gradually, in steps.

He also believes that many of the current teachers should not be teaching at all. “They do not know how to teach or how to relate to students. You need to love your profession, whether you’ve been in it for two years or for 20. And you need to like the students. There are some teachers who do like their students – I know some of them – but unfortunately, I also know those who do not.”

At his school in the Krasna Polyana borough of Sofia, and at others, like his former economics school, there are teachers who maintain relationships with their students, helping them in life as well as in learning. They might help students find jobs, or act as a listening ear for someone in distress.

That is another thing that Plamen would like to see: a psychologist on every campus, along with required physical education, more – and improved – sport facilities, and religious education. “Bulgaria is a Christian state in words only. She has forgotten who God is,” he says.

Education needs to prepare a person for his future. Plamen opines that large part of the things taught in this country have no purpose. The textbooks, which seem to be written by some ageing academician who is out-of-touch with reality, need to be updated. “I’d like to see a change in the teachers, for them to care about our education, for them to create the possibility of a good future for their students. But families are also guilty. Families need to support and urge on their children; children need to be taught to desire education and to learn,” he says.

Plamen was born and lived most of his younger life in Cherven Bryag, a town between Vratsa and Pleven. He does not smoke. He does not do drugs, he does not litter; he is respectful towards women, children and older adults. He is one of the few Bulgarian males that I have encountered who seems to have an innate sense of chivalry.

If dreams repressed were once again allowed to surface, however, instead of electrical installation, he would be studying economics, or continuing professional training in track and field, his forte being the long jump, and in football, and not living with extended family in Botounets, a village near Kremikovtzi, where the population is, as he diplomatically puts it, “ethnically mixed”, and where nothing interesting happens.