Over 1,000 young people were granted scholarships to help Hungarian communities all over the world

The Hungarian government’s Kőrösi Csoma Sándor programme has sent 625 young Hungarians to teach diaspora communities around the world since its launch seven years ago, the commissioner for ethnic Hungarian communities abroad in the Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday.

In the 2019/2020 season 114 teachers, folk dancers and scouts spent nine months teaching diaspora communities in 19 countries on the northern hemisphere, Péter Szilágyi told a conference evaluating the season.

The Kőrösi Csoma programme will also be organised in 2020/2021, too, focusing on education on religion, traditions, community building and the scout movement, he said.

Assessing the Petőfi Sandor programme supporting ethnic Hungarian diaspora communities in the Carpathian Basin, Szilágyi said it has awarded 307 grants since its launch in 2015 and sent 74 scholarship holders to the region during the 2019/2020 season.

Both schemes are aimed at helping ethnic communities retain their national identity and strengthen cohesion through Hungarian language teaching and cultural activities.

Over the past few years, a total of around 1,000 young people were granted six-to-nine-month scholarships to help Hungarian communities all over the world.