In the same year serious thought was given to the solution of these problems, and tentative measures were proposed. The major thrust of these proposals was to enable students to meet the needs of the economy by shortening the period of overall education. It was proposed that a unified polytechnic school, which would fuse general and professional elements of education, would replace the current, professionally oriented polytechnic school. At the same time children would enter school at the age of six, instead of the customary seven. The secondary polytechnic school would be a ten-year instead of a twelve-year course, allowing students to graduate at the age of sixteen. Most courses in higher education would be reduced from five to four years, enabling students to complete all levels of education by the age of twenty rather than twenty-five.
The reforms would perhaps have a greater impact on the secondary system than the other levels, as they envisioned a completely unified secondary school system in which professional and general education would be fused. Specialization in liberal arts, mathematics and economics, chemistry and biology, social sciences, and foreign languages would be offered.
In 1972 these reforms were officially proposed and passed by the Council of Ministers. It was anticipated that they would be carried out over the next ten to fifteen years. Although the concept of fusing general and professional education in the new unified secondary polytechnic school was not universally popular, the reform embodying this concept was passed primarily because of the influence of one of its strongest proponents, Zhivkov.
Other reforms proposed in 1972 dealt with the specific levels of the educational system and with monetary necessities to fulfill these expectations. As it was expected that by 1975 approximately 76 percent of children from three to seven years of age would be in kindergartens, the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1971-75) emphasized the development of a huge network of kindergartens. By 1975, 85 percent of the students attending primary school were expected to go on to the secondary level, and plans were made to increase the construction of boarding and semiboarding schools to accommodate these students. Secondary education was to be made compulsory in order, in Zhivkov's words, "to give every young man and girl the opportunity not only of acquiring scientific knowledge of nature and society and the necessary general culture and polytechnical education, but also of acquiring certain production and technical habits and skills, of preparing themselves for socially useful work."