Government to introduce obligatory PE at Hungarian universities?

PM Viktor Orbán talked to Nemzeti Sport, a Hungarian sports daily, about Hungary’s Olympic performance, saying that one of the conditions of providing grants for higher education will be the availability of physical education at universities.

About the universities that have been put in possession of private foundations, he said that one of the grant conditions would be to make physical education available. Furthermore, the government will provide extra funding “if they enter teams in certain conventional sports in university championships, such as basketball, volleyball, rowing, and pentathlon.”

According to hvg.hu, the government introduced everyday PE education in 2012, despite the lack of infrastructure. Since then, the administration has been improving that in the schools. In 2018, Zoltán Balog, the former Minister of Human Capacities, said at a V4 conference that Hungary would introduce obligatory PE in kindergartens, too. Regarding higher education, the idea popped up in 2013 first. However, what the PM said in his interview is new since

HVG thinks it means that the universities will have to provide everyday PE for their students if they want to receive enough money from the state.

It’s official: the majority of the Hungarian higher education in possession of private foundations

According to Nemzeti Sport, they asked the PM to speak about Hungary’s performance at the Olympic Games and whether it met his expectations. “A prime minister shouldn’t make assessments because that’s not his duty; it is the duty of the leaders of sports associations and the Olympic Committee,” Orbán replied. He added that the Hungarian team won “half of the events that we should win.” He expected a gold from Katinka Hosszú, but he defended her after she could not meet expectations, saying that “once a champion, always a champion.“

About the Olympic Games, he said that every nation would like to prove to the world that they are unique. Hungary has limited opportunities to do so in the economy, but “in talent, the sky is the limit. 

The Hungarian nation is one of the world’s most competitive,” 

he added. He also said that the Olympic team’s performance reveals something about the current state of the country.

He said that in the success of the male athletes, the pillar was the rebuilding of the army and the introduction of daily physical education in schools.

He said that the Hungarian people work extremely hard, so most of them do not spend their free time doing sports.

The government’s task is to provide conditions to make sports available for everybody.

He also said that nations cannot be replaced, not even in sports. “The Olympics and sports are also a great help in passing our tried and tested values on to our children,” he added. PM Orbán stated that

an Olympiad can only be organised with national unity,

referring to the 2017 fiasco when a referendum initiative started by Momentum Movement killed the Olympic plans of the government.

“Since then, four years have passed, and now there are far more Hungarians who appreciate that the hotel development and road development projects that are necessary for an Olympiad have been completed regardless of the Olympics. Every year, we’re stronger, every year we’re better-prepared, every year the country looks better, every year, it’s increasingly evident that Hungary is worthy of hosting the Olympics,” he said.

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Source: nemzetisport.hu, hvg.hu