The main emphasis in the 1972 reforms, however, was on higher education. It was anticipated that there would be some 120,000 students in higher education by 1975. Of this number it was expected that 65,000--or approximately half--would be specialists. Of the 65,000 specialists, half would be engaged in science and technology. Therefore, in 1972 plans were being formulated for the construction of new buildings at many of the major institutions of higher education.
In order to fulfill these structural changes, it was decided that both increased expenditures and additional places for students were needed. During the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1966-70), about 300 million leva (for value of the lev--see Glossary) had been expended on education. In the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1971-75) 500 million leva were to be allocated. In addition, 30,000 more places were to be provided at the preschool level, 28,000 more accommodations at hostels, and 4,500 classrooms at all levels.
Figures vary to some degree, but at the time of liberation in 1878 between 85 and 90 percent of the Bulgarian population was illiterate. By the early twentieth century, however, Bulgaria had achieved the highest literacy rate in the Balkans. Although some scholars stated that only some 31 percent of the population over school age was literate, by 1920 nearly 50 percent of the population over school age was literate. By 1934 only 31.6 percent of the population over school age was still illiterate, and by 1940 this figure was reduced to between 20 and 25 percent.
After the Communists took power in the country, literacy increased at a rapid pace. In 1956 only 17.6 percent of the population over twenty-five was illiterate, and by 1965 only 8.6 percent was illiterate. In 1973, although total literacy for people under fifty years of age was claimed by the government, the rate of literacy of this group was probably somewhere between 90 and 100 percent.
Of the illiterate population in 1965, approximately three-fourths were women and only one-fourth were men, reflecting the recency of the emancipation of women in Bulgaria. Of ethnic groups, the Gypsies have both the lowest levels of literacy and of education, whereas the Turks have a significantly higher literacy rate. Jews, Czechs, Greeks, and Russians all have a relatively high literacy level. In 1965 there were three times as many illiterates in rural areas as in urban. Also, illiteracy in Bulgaria was much more common among the older generation than among the young. In 1965, of the population over 60 years of age, approximately one-third was illiterate, whereas only a very small percentage of the working-age group was illiterate. The government seemed relatively unconcerned about the problem of illiteracy among the older people, as an official stated: "The high illiteracy rate among the older population does not present a problem since this is the population above the working age and this group is not crucial to our economic life."