“I agree with those who are wearing the checked shirt,” he said, in reference to the outfit which has become a symbol of teachers’ demands.

Hiller, a former education minister, said everything at school should be about children yet “with Fidesz it’s all about Klik” and Fidesz’s desire to centrally control the children through the agency. He said the problem was not the 40 billion forints (EUR 129m) the agency had amassed in debt but Klik itself.

The opposition Dialogue for Hungary (PM) also expressed support for the “checked-shirt movement” and the solidarity day organised by parents on Monday, when many kept their children home from school.

Bence Tordai, a spokesman for PM, said they support the parent initiative organised in a Facebook campaign because it is a “way to give feedback about the public education system”. He said “people have finally woken up and realised that they can no longer endure power holders playing with their lives and the lives of their children.”

The Facebook campaign, which organisers said was intended as “a first warning”, registered tens of thousands of followers on Monday morning.

The opposition LMP party proposed that schools should be immediately returned to the control of local councils capable of running them, and the power of appointing a head teacher should also be kept locally, lawmaker István Ikotity said. He said he also agreed with calls to reduce the burden on teachers and students.

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