For the first time, Hungarian students receive compensation for discrimination in Romania

The Bucharest Court of Appeals ordered the Romanian Ministry of National Education and the Kolozs (Cluj) County School Inspectorate to pay compensation for language discrimination against Hungarian children.

According to the final and binding ruling of the Bucharest Court of Appeals, 16 Hungarian children were discriminated against at Apáczai Csere János Secondary School in 2016 when the Cluj County School Inspectorate and the Ministry rejected their parents’ request to start a class with Hungarian as the language of instruction. This would have been the only Hungarian-language class in fine arts in the county, writes Krónika Online. The school inspectorate argued that the number of children did not reach the required minimum number.

The Bucharest Court of Appeals ordered the Ministry and the school inspectorate to pay compensation of RON 6,000 (~EUR 1,212) per person to the 10 students who took the case to court with the help of the Advocacy Group for Freedom of Identity.

Language discrimination

Originally, 16 children applied to the fine arts class. However, Valentin Cuibus, the then-chief school inspector of Cluj County, rejected their application and thus discriminated against the students.

Even the Secretary of State for Minorities, András Király, nominated by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, failed to remedy the refusal, writes Hello Magyar. In response to the complaints, the National Council for Combatting Discrimination (CNCD) declared that the Cluj County School Inspectorate discriminated against the students and condemned the school inspectorate in April 2017. The CNCD also called for an urgent solution.

A decision that can be ignored

Referring to the CNCD’s decision, the parents of 12 students repeatedly requested starting a Hungarian-language class in fine arts from the Romanian Ministry of National Education and the school inspectorate. However,

the chief school inspector told the parents and the representatives of the Advocacy Group for Freedom of Identity that the CNCD’s decision can be ignored.

The parents filed an action for damages, which they won at first and second instances. András Bethlendi, the representative of the Advocacy Group for Freedom of Identity, explained that

this was the first language discrimination case in Romania in which the final and binding ruling of the court awarded compensation to the parties who had been discriminated against.

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Source: hellomagyar.hu, kronikaonline.ro