“Shkolo” is an obsolete and unused word for “school” in the Bulgarian language. Just as this word has fallen out of use, so too have many schools in the remote areas of northwestern Bulgaria become old and abandoned. According to Eurostat and NSI studies the population in these regions has decreased from 1.2 million in 1990 to 670 thousand in 2023.
This process is largely a result of economic changes and the shift in the economic model. When agriculture loses its significance and no longer offers employment, most of the population migrates to cities. The gradual depopulation not only of villages but of entire regions is the outcome of many overlapping issues that have remained unresolved for years. The lack of investment leads to a shortage of acceptable jobs, forcing residents to seek better conditions in the cities. At the same time companies struggle to find qualified labor, limiting opportunities and creating a vicious cycle of high unemployment, depopulation, and school closures.
This is the focus of the photographic project “Shkolo” – the exploration of the now defunct “Otets Paisiy” school in the village of Bregare. Built in 1934, when the village population was 2,500, the school closed in 2008, when the village population was only 500 residents. Through the camera lens the project captures the condition of the building – its physical aging and decay—and traces the fate of the teachers who taught there for 35 years. “Shkolo” is not just a chronicle of an abandoned schoolyard, but a story of the social and economic transformations that led to it. This project aims to show how a deserted building can tell the story of an entire community, while also drawing attention to the contemporary challenges facing the villages in this region.
More here: https://shkolo.linatonev.com/