By 1921 a three-tiered system of education--consisting of the four-year elementary school, the three-year _progymnasium_, and the five-year gymnasium--became officially compulsory in the first two stages. Many children failed to attend school, however, and many villages, despite the official policy, were without school facilities. The entire educational system was controlled by the government through the Ministry of Public Education, which regulated the contents of texts and courses and the administration of exams. The model for the educational system was essentially European, with a particularly strong emphasis on German and Russian patterns. In 1921 the Law of Public Instruction brought an increase in emphasis on vocational training. Orders were issued to bring about a transition to "vocational education and respect for labor." Eventually, schoolchildren were forced to spend two weeks of their studies in "compulsory labor," a concept that was the precursor of the Bulgarian communist philosophy of the integration of work with education. During this period the students worked in such projects as cleaning school facilities, binding texts, and cultivating school gardens. In 1934 a so-called modern school was established to give the student an alternative to the academically and socially elitist gymnasium, but there were still a number of deficiencies in the Bulgarian educational system. The literacy rate had greatly increased, but between 20 and 30 percent of the population was still illiterate. Although schooling was officially compulsory, it was in fact inaccessible in smaller villages, and many school-age children were not able to attend. Humanities were emphasized to the virtual exclusion of technical-vocational subjects, which were developed to only a very slight degree. Only one of five secondary students studied technical subjects. Adult education was virtually nonexistent. In 1937 there were eight institutions of higher education in addition to the University of Sofia, the country's leading educational facility. Six of these--the Free University, the Academy of Art, the Academy of Music, the Military Academy, the Theological Seminary, and the School of Physical Education--were also located in Sofia. The remaining two were business schools located in Varna and Svishtov. A large number of Bulgarian students also chose to continue their education abroad. One of the major problems at the time concerned the absorption of graduates into the various fields for which they were eligible. The country was still predominantly agricultural, and there were simply too few positions available for the annual influx of graduates, a situation that caused alienation and disaffection. COMMUNIST EDUCATIONAL POLICIES