The national government not only recognized the importance of national defense education, but also supports it morally and financially, the Minister of National Defense announced on Wednesday in Hódmezővásárhely.
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said at the opening ceremony of the Honvéd Secondary School and College in Hódmezővásárhely: 119 secondary schools across the country have already joined the Honvéd Cadet Program. Every county has at least one partner school, among which "the national defense secondary school is a unique and special scene of national defense education," he said.
As he said: the Kratochvil Károly Honvéd Secondary School and College in Debrecen has added two more member institutions as of September this year: the Honvéd College in Szolnok and the Honvéd High School and College in Hódmezővásárhely.
According to the minister, "the road we are on is taking us in the right direction", since there has been multiple over-registrations in military secondary schools for years. The numbers also show that there is an increasing need for the military profession and that young people are saying yes to serving their country in increasing numbers, he added.
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky emphasized: if it is about the peace and security of Hungary, then we need a school where young people are taught the basics of defending the country. "No one will protect the country for us. This is our job," he said, adding, especially now, when two serious threats are looming: the war and the migration crisis.
According to the head of the ministry, the defense of the country requires modern tools, well-prepared and trained young people who can handle them professionally, as well as a correct moral attitude and patriotic attitude, which they receive in the military secondary schools.
He advised the first forty students of the Hódmezővásárhely honvéd high school to be determined and persistent, to see this career as a vocation, because "we have national value and a future as long as there are ready and dedicated young people, because home only exists as long as there is, who protects him," he said.
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky pointed out that military secondary schools represent values that are now in decline, such as family, community and patriotism, camaraderie, respect for traditions or team spirit.
Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, the commander of the Hungarian Armed Forces, emphasized in his speech: the future will be like his school today, and the forty young people who are now starting their studies at Hódmezővásárhely are in the fortunate position that they can build the future and the school.
He emphasized: the values that the soldiers represent will help the lives of young people in everything in the future, no matter what profession they choose after graduating from high school.
The commander reminded that it was thanks to the cooperation of many, the joint work of soldiers and civilians, that the accommodation of the students of the institution was solved in the dormitory of the 5th Bocskai István Lövészdandár in Hódmezővásárhely Miklós Zrínyi barracks.
István Kovács , the director of the Kratochvil Károly Honvéd Secondary School and College in Debrecen, recalled: a few years ago, at the initiative of Lieutenant Colonel Ferenc Huszár and the then mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, István Almási, negotiations began to establish a school similar to the institution in Debrecen. In the meantime, the Honvéd Cadet Program launched by the Ministry of National Defense started and hundreds and thousands of young people joined the institutions providing patriotic and national defense education, as well as summer national defense camps.
The lieutenant colonel said: Three years ago, former Minister of National Defense Tibor Benkő entrusted him with the directorship of Hungary's only military high school in Debrecen. Playing a pioneering role in the development of the institutional system, the brave Mikecz Kálmán Honvéd College in Nyíregyháza opened its doors last year as its first step. After the opening ceremony of the 2022/23 academic year, the dormitory building created in Miklós Zrínyi barracks in Hódmezővásárhely was handed over to the 5th Bocskai István Lövészdandár.
