According to the Bulgarian administrative and normative educational documents, there are no Roma or gypsy schools in the country. Such schools do not exist, even though there is a very relevant alternative in the form of institutions for specialized language education, which are available for students with Jewish, Armenian or Russian background. The "Roma school" concept becomes even more unrealistic if one considers the other alternative of "English", "German", "French" "Spanish" and "Portuguese" language schools or departments, where admission requirements and tests are not adapted to the ethnic specifics and are available only in Bulgarian.

     Some of the currently existing Roma schools are a legacy from the communist past of the country. In the years 1958, 1968, 1971, 1978 the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Bulgaria approved several decisions and measures to settle, educate, and improve the living standard of Roma community. The effects of this "concern" can be traced to the present day. But while these policies had dramatic impact on the Turkish community in the period 1985-1989 and later on had only political consequences, for Roma these measures had long term impact and resulted in a consciously maintained social isolation. The educational system is one of the spheres where this isolation is created and developed.

     In the past the Bulgarian citizens, including Roma, were settled according to certain rules and had obligatory residence according to place of birth, or place of work. Changing residence was possible only under extraordinary circumstances. This is how many Roma schools emerged - around eighty, euphemistically called "schools for children with low living standard and culture." In relief schools and children homes, which were many in the past, Roma are still the majority. Actually, part of these schools, as well as some of the "normal" Roma schools, have a long history because most of the Bulgarian Roma have been settled since centuries, and their schools are located in old-time quarters and neighbourhoods. Considering the so called "social relief" aspect of the phenomenon, Roma have been forced to enter relief schools and homes since it was assumed that they are poor, disabled, and a menace to society.

     In the last decade a third type of Roma school emerged. This tendency will probably continue in the future given the rising number of Roma children in the villages and small municipalities in Central Bulgaria. The settlement pattern of the Bulgarian Roma shows a certain trend, which has serious consequences for education - most Roma schools are located in villages.

     Certainly, the idiomatic expression "Roma school" can be applied to any school, just as the expression "this is a Bulgarian job", is used in Bulgarian language to refer to any unsuccessful enterprise. In his Optimistic Theory of Our People, published in 1938, the ethno-sociologist, Ivan Hadjiiski, defines it as: "...a badly thought job, begun without inspiration, without management or with poor management, which naturally seems to finish with a scandal."