Hungary is today in a position to be able to develop its schools and education system, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a school opening on Monday.

Since May 2010, when this Government took office, development programmes have been launched in 359 schools, the Prime Minister said in Törökbálint, West of Budapest, where he inaugurated a new building of the Márton Bálint primary and secondary school complex.

"The Government has striven to establish an education system that ensures every child in Hungary, no matter where they live, has the opportunity to study and make progress; a system that does not conserve the divide among the groups of society," he stated. He highlighted the introduction of ethics and religion lessons as well as daily physical education classes as important changes.

By putting the management of schools under the control of a central state institution, children in "every corner of the country" will gradually be provided with the same quality of education, the Prime Minister pointed out. Hungary, he said, has now reached a point where it can enter a phase of rational, economically sound wage increase.

First, the wages of public healthcare system employees were raised, and following the recent adoption of a related bill by Parliament, the wages of teachers have also been increased, he noted.

(Prime Minister’s Office)