Opposition Jobbik calls for reform of language training

Conservative opposition Jobbik said on Friday that Hungary needs a reform in language training before holding a language certificate is introduced as a requirement for entering higher education.

It is a reasonable expectation that degree-holders should have a language certificate but the language skills that can be gained in the current public education system are not sufficient, Jobbik deputy group leader Gergely Farkas told a press conference.

Introducing such a requirement represents “financial discrimination” against children from families that cannot afford extra language classes, a language school or trips abroad, he added.

Farkas welcomed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s recent announcement to provide all Hungarian students a two-week language course abroad but said the real pledge to success would be more and better trained language teachers.

The planned requirement of a successful language exam for entrants in higher education should be postponed by at least four years, he said.

In recent years, around 45 percent of entrants and 55 percent of higher education students held a language certificate and these ratios are impossible to change within a year or two, he added.

Source: MTI