Number of church schools and students double in 10 years in Hungary
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The number of denominational schools and students in those establishments have radically increased in the past ten years. Church schools are also primary recipients of financial resources from the state.
The figures were revealed in the Statistical Yearbook of Public Education, and from the latest data by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH). Numbers were compared between the 2010/2011 and 2019/2020 school years.
| 2010/2011 | 2019/2020 | |
| Nursery schools | 141 institutions | 282 institutions |
| 12,400 students | 26,900 students | |
| Elementary schools | 197 institutions | 378 institutions |
| 50,000 students | 111,700 students | |
| Secondary grammar schools | 108 institutions | 172 institutions |
| 37,000 students | 54,900 students |
Number of institutions and students at each level of education.
Source: nepszava.hu
As Népszava outlines, Christian churches have an increasing role in all institutions of primary and secondary education. Tamás Totyik, vice-president of the Hungarian Trade Union of Teachers (Pedagógusok Szakszervezete), says,
There is a school in Hajdú-Bihar County, which is in a terrible condition and was handed to the church so that renovation can start as early as possible.
According to Népszava, the growing role of denominations is more obvious if we take a look at the schools’ member institutions. The table above shows that the number of church-run nursery schools increased to 282 by 2019, but the number of actual locations where the church operated nursery schools is 378 (after an increase from 155 in 2010). What happened here is that these not independent institutions were later incorporated into other, church-run establishments.
The situation is particularly interesting because, at the same time, the presence of public schools has been in decline: the number of elementary schools decreased from 1991 (2010) to 1872 by 2019. In the case of secondary grammar schools, the change is even more dramatic: from 402 there was a decline of 25% to 298 by 2019.