During these weeks, the eighth graders choose which secondary school they will enroll in. One of the exciting innovations of recent years is the Honvéd Cadet Program, which is a huge success not only among boys, but also among girls. Due to multiple over-subscriptions, the government plans to open a series of new military schools by 2030, where students can get a taste of military service in a safe environment while taking part in the adventures of a lifetime. Let's see what national defense education is about in practice.
More than seven thousand high school students are already participating in the Honvéd Cadet Program training, Minister of Defense Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced a few days ago. Education to become a patriotic and responsible citizen is playing an increasingly important role in Hungarian public education, and according to the Minister of National Defense, in the midst of new, global challenges, it is increasingly important to impart to young people the knowledge that strengthens the country's security and defense capability.
According to the enrollment data, there is demand for the initiative, no matter how big: the cadet program has been unfailingly popular among students since its introduction, for example at the most popular military school, the Kratochvil Károly Honvéd Secondary School in Debrecen
This year there was also a fivefold over-subscription, and the number of applicants at the national level increased by 50 percent compared to last year.
In addition, the uniform and the national defense field have long been attractive not only to boys, which is not surprising when you look at the variety of programs that cadets can participate in. In addition to the fact that the children learn national defense knowledge in the classroom, they can also take part in extreme challenges such as skydiving or survival camps.
During the training, they are organized obstacle course sports activities and a barracks visit, they can practice target shooting with laser weapons, but they can also learn many things that are very useful in everyday life, such as first aid, self-defense techniques or orientation in the field.
The cadet program created under István Simicskó's ministry has three levels: in the least demanding level, children learn basic national defense knowledge as an optional subject for 1-2 hours per week, in addition to which they can participate in activities that provide patriotic experiences, competitions, national defense days, shooting sports, martial arts training, and summer camps.
Those with a more serious interest can apply for a five-year national defense vocational training, at the end of which they must also graduate from national defense. In the framework of dual training, the students
in the last year, they can do an internship at an organization of the Hungarian Defense Forces.
The good news is that the participants in the cadet vocational training also receive extra points if they later apply to the Military Science and Defense Officer Training Faculty of the National Public Service University.
The most serious arenas for national defense training are the residential national defense secondary schools, which together with the colleges to which they belong, provide integrated national defense education in the classroom, extracurricular school and outside the school. A total of four cities today offer the opportunity for students to live their weekdays in the same way as soldiers: in Debrecen, Nyíregyháza, Hódmezővásárhely and Szolnok. In view of the great interest, the government plans to expand the number of military secondary schools and colleges in the country to ten by 2030.
Cadet training/Photo: Mihály Dömsödi ha
In addition to the experiences, it is also worth applying to the cadet schools because of the scholarships: the amount of the Ádám Béri Balogh military cadet scholarship in 2022 in public education institutions is between 14 and 40 thousand forints per month (depending on academic results), and students in vocational training can expect between 10 and 58 thousand forints . For those in need, an additional equal opportunity scholarship can be applied for, which amounts to HUF 24,000 per month. In addition to all this, a technical school also includes the general monthly vocational training scholarship.
István Simicskó previously said in connection with the cadet program:
it is crucial that Hungarian students receive national defense education, because the security of Hungary also depends on the patriotic commitment of its citizens.
"In a century of risks and struggles, it is extremely important to give appropriate answers to the new challenges of the era. One of the important elements of this is to equip our young people with skills that will enable them to defend their homeland," the former minister opined.
The cadet program serves precisely the above goals: teenagers can experience military life in safe conditions without obligation, while they receive a solid set of values, learn to do something for their community and strengthen their national identity.
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Featured image: Facebook/Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky
