Church-maintained schools were a secondary issue during previous, Socialist governments, Minister of State for Social and Family Affairs Miklós Soltész pointed out at a press conference held in Carei (Nagykároly, Transylvania) on Tuesday. The politician added that during the past four years the Orbán government has also implemented serious changes within this field. While in 2010 there were roughly six hundred church-maintained educational institutions in Hungary, their number reached one thousand by 2014.
This is more than ten percent of the total number of educational institutions in Hungary. Some 215 thousand children have had the opportunity to study in church schools so far. This year’s budget includes HUF 123 billion (EUR 400 million) in funding for church schools, which is HUF 23 (EUR 74 million) billion more than last year.
The State Secretariat for Social and Family Affairs has provided HUF 70 million (EUR 226 thousand) in funding to the Saint Joseph Lycee, where the press conference was held, for various development projects. Minister of State Soltész emphasised that it is crucial to support Hungarian schools in foreign countries to help people living outside Hungary’s borders preserve their national identity, which is one of the Government’s priority goals.