Hungarian teacher union calls for independent education ministry

Teachers’ trade union PDSZ on Friday called for the establishment of an independent education ministry as part of the new management structure of the next government.

Tamás Szűcs, who has been appointed PDSZ’s acting chairman after former chairman László Mendrey was recalled from his position, told a press conference that the union would pen a letter to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asking him to scrap the Ministry of Human Resources.

In line with past practices, every major sector — including education — should have its own ministry and a minister who is as qualified as possible in the given field, Szűcs said.

Szűcs described the current human resources ministry as a “helpless giant”, saying that it was incapable of adequately representing the interests of the various sectors it oversees.

He said Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog had not been a “good shepherd” to the education sector, adding that PDSZ would “not feel sorry” for him if he did not stay on as minister in the new cabinet.

The human resources ministry said in response that it hoped that in the future it “would not only learn of PDSZ’s ideas on education from the street”. In a statement, the ministry said it had learned of PDSZ’s new chairman from the press, adding that the new leader had “chosen a street demonstration as his introduction”.

The ministry said it was convinced that education should be advanced through dialogue, joint work “and not street protests”.

Source: MTI