January 23rd, 2018
A student in the leading pro-government daily claims that high school students who demand the reform of the education system have no credible ideas and serve the interest of the opposition parties. A left-wing columnist, on the other hand, finds the students’ demands legitimate and reasonable.
On Friday, a couple of thousand high school students demonstrated for fundamental education reforms. Most importantly, they called for a less demanding curriculum and shorter classes in high schools as well as more funding for universities.
In Magyar Idők, Barnabás Heinz finds the call by student organizations to stay away from school on Friday in protest against the government’s education policies, ‘destructive’. The commentator, a student himself, acknowledges that the Hungarian education system should be reformed, but finds the student organizations’ agenda unrealistic. Heinz also finds it problematic that the student organization that initiated the protest had ties to opposition politicians, the Central European University as well as to the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Népszava’s Judit Kósa thinks that the students are justified in their demands and criticism. The left-wing columnist interprets the demonstration as the young upwardly mobile generation’s revolt against illiberal and undemocratic governance. Kósa finds it absurd that the pro-government media labels young protesters who just want to get a better education so that they can have a decent life in Hungary, as the agents of George Soros.
Tags: education, protests
