The Tanítanék (I want to teach) movement responded to Lázár’s announcement last Thursday outlining changes in Hungary’s public education system from 2018, including a new national curriculum, reduced burdens on pupils from September this year and revamp of the state agency overseeing schools (Klik).

Lázár also said there should be a “national minimum” in the curriculum, setting the knowledge base for all students. The letter by teachers heading the Tanítanék movement István Pukli, Oliver Pilz and Katalin Törley complained that the government had only owned up to the existence of problems in the schooling system in the face of months of protests but it had then ploughed ahead without consultations and had ended up with bad solutions.

The Tanítanék letter said that the government had conceded that the dual maintenance of schools—local councils now provide certain amenities and equipment while the state controls everything else—had failed. But its solution now was to go even further and take total control, it said, adding that good education rests on autonomy but the government was still thinking “in terms of Klik”.

The opposition LMP party also said that the changes planned by the government were “more state power” for schools. Party spokesman István Ikotity said that LMP proposes a new schools management model in which local councils could regain the right to oversee the operation of their schools if they choose.

The state secretary for education László Palkovics said last week that the government would increase spending on the state school manager Klik by 103 billion forints (EUR 330m) in 2017. In the face of teachers’ demonstrations in March, the government had said that Klik in its current form would be scrapped in the summer and replaced by a new, less centralised system.

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MTI photo: Balogh Zoltán