Expert: 30 thousand teachers missing from the Hungarian schools

A Hungarian education expert, Judit Lannert, believes Hungarian schools have reached a critical point with no room for further decline. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, she stated that the system is short of 30,000 teachers, a figure denied by the Hungarian government. Officially, the shortage is reported to be over 3,500 teachers in Hungarian schools.

Hungarian schools conceal problems

Lannert added in the interview that there are numerous methods used to improve statistics regarding the classes conducted. For example, in some schools, pedagogical assistants, who are unqualified to teach specific subjects, are nevertheless assigned to teach classes; in Hungary, such assistants only hold a school-leaving certificate. In other instances, retired teachers are brought back into service, or headteachers redirect specialists, such as special needs teachers, to cover regular classes due to the staffing shortage. Regardless of the method, someone always ends up at a disadvantage.

Lannert argued that the government should not maintain small schools in rural towns. Instead, she suggested creating high-quality school centres. In Western Europe, the average size of a secondary school is around 600 pupils, whereas, in Hungary, the average is only 300. She believes that Hungary needs to reduce the number of subjects taught. Moreover, a significant pay rise for teachers is essential.

The school years starts tomorrow in Hungary. Photo: MTI

The government attempts to solve the labour shortage by administrative measures. They reduced the length of teacher training and allowed soldiers above 55 to be redirected to schools to teach subjects, which outrages parents.

Confidence in Hungary’s higher education institutions strengthened, says official

Confidence in Hungary’s higher education institutions has been strengthened in recent years, the state secretary for higher education, vocational and adult training at the ministry of culture and innovation said on Saturday. Veronika Varga-Bajusz told a press conference that this was evidenced by the fact that more than 100,000 students were admitted to higher education institutions for the second consecutive year, with half of them set to study in fields that are “important from the point of view of the national economy”.

Szeged University. Photo: FB/Uni Szeged

Fully 70 percent of university and college applicants were offered admission this year, three-quarters of them to state-financed programmes, the state secretary said.

Varga-Bajusz welcomed that the number of students admitted to teacher training programmes has doubled to 15,000 this year compared with 2022.

Also, every other applicant will begin their studies at an institution outside the capital, she said. One-fifth of applicants are over the age of 30, she said, adding this meant that the value of higher education degrees was constantly rising.

Business studies programmes were again the most popular this year, followed by teacher training and engineering schemes, she said, adding that interest in STEM programmes has also increased.

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