Government to reform primary education
March 11th, 2017A conservative Roma rights activist welcomes the government’s proposal to introduce a mandatory pre-school year to help the integration of children from poor families.
Zoltán Balog, Minister of Human Capacities announced that the government will introduce an additional year to the existing 8-year primary education. The additional pre-school year is intended to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to catch up with other children.
‘A new hope for the country’, comments István Forgács on Mandiner, on plans for 9-year primary schools. The conservative Roma activist writes that the social integration of Hungary’s poor population, including many Roma families, can only be achieved through education. In order to elevate the Roma, they need good education that will help them fill meaningful jobs. The introduction of the catch-up year will help children from deprived families to pick up skills and social norms that are essential for them to successfully complete their studies, Forgács stresses. He adds that better integration and education of poor Roma would be beneficial for the whole country and the economy. Forgács believes that the additional pre-school year will help poor Roma much more than the desegregation of schools.