Orbán cabinet promises wage hike amidst labour shortage crisis in Hungary’s education – UPDATED

The government is carrying on with its wage hike programme for teachers as it has promised, bringing teachers’ salaries to 80 percent of the average wage of degree holders, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.

Government to carry on with teachers’ wage hike programme

Gergely Gulyás told a regular press briefing that the government meeting on Wednesday reviewed the situation of public education, ahead of the start of the new academic year.

With this year’s wage hikes, teachers’ wages have reached 670,000-680,000 forints, Gulyás said. That will be followed by a 21 percent raise on January 1, 2025, and the trend will continue until 2030, in line with the government’s pledge to keep teacher’s wages at least at 80 percent of the average salaries of degree holders, he added.

The average gross wage of degree holders is expected to be around monthly 1.25 million forints (EUR 3,180) in 2025, and teachers’ wages will be raised to 820,000 forints. “Very optimistic estimates” put teachers’ wages above 1 million forints by early 2027, he said.

Public education is of paramount importance for the future, including the prestige and financial appreciation of teachers, Gulyás said. “This is the profession that lays the foundation to the knowledge of future generations of their own homeland and the world around them,” he said.

Family support transferred early for start of school year

Government spokeswoman Eszter Vitályos said September’s family support and childcare benefits would be disbursed early this year in order to reduce parents’ burdens and help the start of the school year.

Vitalyás said the Hungarian Post will start delivering the payments on Friday and the State Treasury will start to make bank transfers on the same day. As a result, some 1,1 million families can receive the family support benefits ahead of the start of the school year.

The government will again provide free textbooks to all students in public education and vocational training, and through the local governments, free or low cost meals will be provided to students in large families and to families that raise disabled children.

Some 13 million text books and 70,000 other materials will be delivered to 4,100 schools, for 1,2 million children, she said.

Public schools have seen a substantial digital development in the past five years, with some 500,000 notebooks distributed to 5-12 graders, 200 smart text books were developed and students and teachers now have access to thousands of digital teaching materials, she said.

Class trips to Lake Balaton

Vitalyás said the school development of the past years had been “unprecedented”, with the development of 5,680 kindergartens and schools, and with 220 projects under way to construct swimming pools, gym halls and classrooms, as well as entire schools and one kindergarten.

Vitalyás said the state-funded Erzsébet camps were now operating year-round, and classes were able to organise school trips to Zánka, at Lake Balaton, in autumn, spring and the Advent season.

Meanwhile, older students now have access to funding for driving and language tests. Since its introduction in 2018, some 196,000 students have received support for driving tests, and 187,000 have been refunded for their successful language exams, Vitalyás said. The government has ploughed 4.9 billion and 6.5 billion forints into the two projects, respectively, she added. Courses for the driving exams have been free for students in public education since January 1, 2024, she said.

Further, the government is working to maintain and possibly expand family support. Tax cuts have left some 4,500 billion forints with families between 2011 and 2023, and under-25s are exempt from the personal income tax, she said.

Oil transit problems likely to be resolved

Gulyás said a solution appears to have been found for the problem of oil transits, with oil company Mol most likely able to sign the necessary agreements to ensure that crude oil transits through Ukraine to Hungary are not getting blocked.

“Technically, this will mean that even though the transport is more costly and Mol must bear risks from the Russia-Ukraine border, there is a legal solution that guarantee future” transits, he said.

He expressed hope that crude oil supplies will be secure in the long term on the route that is under threat in terms of transits.

Gulyás said it was regrettable that the European Commission had not taken action to protect the member states. “Despite this, I must say that it appears energy security can be guaranteed in the long term with the help of these agreements,” he added.

He said that neither Hungary nor Slovakia had received any form of support from Brussels.

Brussels failed to protect EU members, the Orbán cabinet believes

He added that Brussels had failed to protect EU members from the actions of a non-EU member that violated its accession agreement signed with the EU.

Gulyás said it was hoped that the solution would guarantee Hungary’s crude oil supplies and energy security in a period when a war is under way and energy acquisition and supplies belong among ther most important issues throughout Europe.

Meanwhile, the government had called on the justice minister to review possibilities to sue the European Commission for compensation for the costs Hungary had incurred due to migration, Gulyás said.

“We can say that Brussels is working to force us to allow migrants into the country,” Gergely Gulyás told a regular press conference.

Government mulling suing EU for compensation of migration costs

Hungary has also been fined for operating transit zones at the border, even as the new migration pact “has partially taken over those good Hungarian practices”, he said.

The protection of the Schengen Area’s external borders “is also a joint issue, not only Hungary’s, as it is important for the whole of Europe, rather than just protecting Hungary from migration.” At the same time, Hungary is being denied access to EU funding earmarked for border protection that is available for other countries, he said.

Gulyás said the interior and justice ministers were looking into “offering all migrants at the Hungarian border to transport them to Brussels, voluntarily and for free, adhering to European procedures”, should the EU continue to try to strong-arm Hungary into adopting regulations that would make it impossible to keep migrants away from the country.

“If Brussels wants migrants, it can get them,” he said and expressed hope that the lawsuit would result in forcing the EC to bear part of the burdens and sign a sensinble agreement as soon as possible to correct the “unacceptable, unbrearable and unfair” situation that results from a European Court decision.

If this does not succeed then “Hungary does not wish to pay daily fines endlessly” but will make it possible for those willing to get a one-way ticket to Brussels where “they can safely negotiate with the European Commission on the services they are to receive”.