Ei-iE

The long arm of the Hungarian government has reached into the country’s classrooms, leaving many fearful that authorities are preparing to tighten their grip on the teaching profession and undermine the role of education unions.

At the invitation of The Hungarian Teachers Union (SEH), Education International (EI) General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen met with the union's leadership in Budapest on 27 and 28 Oct, where SEH President Piroska Gallo explained that one of the major challenges facing the union is the lack of social dialogue: "We want regular negotiations and consultations with the authorities on matters that are important to teachers, and not only at times that there is a conflict."

But social dialogue does not seem to be on the government's priority list. "The education reforms from 2013 were realised without much consultation, and there are several measures which need to be corrected, including those concerning teachers' career paths, teachers' assessment procedures, the wage structure and the increase of working hours," said Gallo.

According to SEH, since the age for compulsory education was lowered from 18 to 16 in 2013, many young people have seen their educational opportunities diminish. The union is also concerned about the restriction of teachers' professional freedom, as the reform measures provide the national government with a dominant role in determining the curriculum and even prescribing the use of specific textbooks and teaching methods.

“The state has entered the classroom," says Gallo. She is worried that  the recent establishment by the Hungarian authorities of a "teachers' chamber", to which all 123,000 Hungarian teachers are invited to join, may be another attempt to tighten the grip on the teaching profession and may also undermine the role of the education unions.

The EI General Secretary also sat down with the minister of Human Resources, Mr. Zoltan Balog, responsible for education, at which he voiced some of the concerns of the education unions.

Rejecting internet tax

SEH has also joined civil protests against the government’s plan to impose a tax on internet use, afraid that teachers and students will also suffer from this measure, which, according to the union, could be interpreted as another basic right being restricted in Hungary.

"There is no justification whatsoever for such a tax," says Gallo. "About three million Hungarians live on or under the poverty line.  For many people internet is the only tool to retrieve information, knowledge, and to learn and communicate. They may soon not be able to afford internet access."

This isn’t the first time that the country has seen such a backlash, having previously been warned by the EU for curtailing freedom of the press.