Participation in the program: The Judiciary - Informed Choice and Civil Trust. Open Courts and Prosecutor's Offices" in the academic year 2023/2024

Since 2017, our college has participated in the program "Judiciary - informed choice and civil trust. Open courts and prosecutor's offices," in partnership with the Administrative Court, Veliko Tarnovo. During philosophy of law classes, a series of visits by several judges from the Court took place during the school year. The last stage of this program saw students visiting the Administrative Court in the city, attending real trials and getting to know how justice works in practice in the Republic of Bulgaria. 

Our first guest was judge Maria Danailova. She gave a lecture on "Criminal Justice" to our tenth graders. The students took on the role of judges, deciding a variety of cases and determining at their own discretion the length of a punishment depending on the type of crime committed. The cases sparked waves of questions and much discussion. In the next cycle of meetings, our guest speaker was judge Diana Kostova. She introduced the tenth grade students to the basics of the Constitution and its changes over the years, as well as the basic human rights it protects. Students discussed various issues on the topic and solved court cases. The last visit of an expert from the Administrative Court was by Ivelina Yaneva. She gave a lecture to eleventh grade students on the topic "Basic Human Rights". Janeva emphasized rights, not only our duties as citizens, and referred to those enshrined in the Constitution, the Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Human Rights. Many of the questions that the eleventh graders asked were related to their rights before law enforcement agencies (Traffic Police, Ministry of Internal Affairs). 

The natural conclusion of the program was the students’ visit to the Administrative Court, Veliko Tarnovo  overseen by their philosophy teacher, Ivanichka Slavcheva. After the series of lectures given in the classrooms came the moment when what was taught could be seen in action. Our eleventh graders got up close and personal with several cases as they watched them proceed at close quarters in one of the institution's courtrooms. The gracious host of the event was judge Yordanka Mateva, who is also the chairman of the Administrative Court in our city. Before starting each case, she explained some specifics about it, and the students had the opportunity to ask questions. Some court cases went extremely quickly, while others required the presentation of physical evidence, the calling of witnesses and experts in order for the Court to give a fair verdict. The whole process was extremely interesting for our students, as they felt it was like something out of a movie. Judge Mateva also told her personal story of how she decided to take this professional path, and many questions were asked about that, as well. 

The visit ended with a tour of the building: the students were able to visit all the courtrooms, the personal offices of all the judges, the cells for those convicted and summoned, and the back yard. The final stop was carefully observing the procedure for bringing in and taking out of the building a prisoner who is a witness in a certain case. The 11th graders also received certificates of participation in the program, a copy of the Constitution of our country and various leaflets related to the Court's activities. 

*The program was initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture and aims to increase the educational culture of students in the field of the judicial system.