Minister of State for Social Inclusion Zoltán Kovács handed over Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog’s Diploma of Merit to Zsolt Batári, Director of the Kedvesház Home in operation for twenty years this year.

The Minister of State for Social Inclusion said in his welcome speech that, while regrettably, the country has lost multiple generations in recent decades, the Hungarian Government will no longer let needy children down. With the National Social Inclusion Strategy, professional work related to disadvantaged and multiply disadvantaged young people has now been placed on new foundations, with a network and consistent, modular programmes developed from nursery all the way to university. This does not mean the nationalisation of tasks and institutions but represents the long overdue acceptance of the Government’s responsibility and a guarantee for creating equal opportunities.

Zoltán Kovács stressed upon the presentation of the diploma that governmental policies are worthless without the dedication and determination of the experts working in the field. The ministerial recognition, which was previously conferred upon the founder of the Kedvesház Home, Péter Lázár, came as a surprise to Zsolt Batári. Lázár said in his speech that programmes dedicated to disadvantaged children had never in the last twenty years received as much attention as they have in the present governmental cycle, and in addition to financial assistance, the notion of being appreciated also greatly contributes to the good work.

The Strategy designed to achieve social inclusion and integration helps the integration of young Roma people by creating an educational network that extends from nursery all the way to university. The Sure Start Children’s Centres assist the development of disadvantaged children from early childhood with the involvement of their parents, the Provisions-Teddy Bear scholarship grants and other equal opportunities programmes reach some 30 thousand children, while the Roma Specialisation Colleges in higher education seek to train the Roma intelligentsia of the future. The boarding system of the Kedvesház Home brings a quality change into the school and home lives of the participating children through the pursuance of a new pedagogical approach.

Source: State Secretariat for Social Inclusion