IT ministry: New Hungarian vocational training system aims to boost competitiveness

Hungary’s vocational training system will change fundamentally from the 2020-21 academic year, an innovation and technology ministry official said on Wednesday.

“We’re creating a more flexible system attuned to the needs of the market while preventing school drop-outs,” Tamás Schanda, the ministry’s state secretary, told a news conference, commenting on the relevant law parliament adopted the previous day.

Children completing eighth grade (typically 14-year-olds) will have a choice of either attending technical school which includes the option of sitting traditional school-leaving exams at the age of 18 and obtaining a technical diploma following a 5-year course, or a vocational school offering a 3-year course in a chosen trade.

Schanda said the changes were accompanied by big increases in wages and scholarships, with vocational teachers receiving an average rise of 30 percent. He said the new system would be performance-based and would apply to almost 32,000 people. With the new student scholarships available, the number of vocational students is expected to triple over two years, he added.

The Democratic Union of Teachers (PDSZ) said the legislation adopted on Tuesday was an unsuitable basis for reforming the vocational training system.

It complained that parliament had adopted the law without prior consultation with stakeholders and it also protested against the change to the legal status of teachers, adding that the new law would put 32,000 teachers into a legal limbo, while in return they had received an unguaranteed pledge of higher wages.