The Rákóczi Association is expanding its network with forty-two school buses, the vehicles purchased with a HUF 500 million government subsidy will help to get to Hungarian schools in Transylvania as well, said the president of the organization on the M1 current channel.

Csongor Csáky called the school bus service that started last year with 16 vehicles in the Highlands a success story, which

contributed to the fact that the number of students enrolled in first grade increased by thirty percent compared to the average of previous years.

Four of the 42 buses handed over on Monday will expand the fleet in the highlands, and 38 will travel in Transylvania from Brasov to Máramarossziget and from there to Timisoara, helping schools in the most diverse situations, the president said.

Csongor Csáky emphasized: there are deep-dispersion regions such as Brasó, Beszterce, Torda, Szászrégen, where buses mainly help the smallest children to get around, but in the Belényesi basin, for example, they provide access to the Hungarian-speaking high school.

The buses enable children with disabilities to go to Hungarian institutions in Nagyszalonta, Érmihályfalva and Nagyvárad, and in Timisoara they go to the two Hungarian educational institutions in the city center from the suburbs, he added.

He indicated:

from September, the fleet of school buses in Transylvania and the Highlands will increase to 58, they cover about six thousand kilometers a day, transporting more than 720 children between their homes and institutions.

According to Csongor Csáky, the buses also help to increase the number of children enrolled in Hungarian institutions in Transylvania.

In Arad, there will be a record number of 46 school starters, and in Nagybánya the number of first graders has also increased significantly, but in Besztercé, Szászrégen, the Belényesi basin and even in Déva, the situation of Hungarian-language educational institutions has also been stabilized - stated the president of the Rákóczi Association.

The maintenance of the school network, the provision and development of Hungarian-language education is crucial for the preservation of Hungarianness across the border, said Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén.

- In the Carpathian Basin, 252,000 people study in Hungarian in Hungarian schools, and each child receives an annual subsidy of HUF 100,000 from the Hungarian state

- said Zsolt Semjén on the occasion that, starting in September, 38 new school buses in Transylvania will help children go to Hungarian school under the operation of the Rákóczi Association in cooperation with the Cluj-Napoca-based School Foundation.

The Deputy Prime Minister said: children can study in Hungarian in 1,700 kindergartens, 1,243 primary schools, 259 secondary schools and twenty higher education institutions.

At the event, Prime Minister Gergely Gulyás also emphasized that the school is the best tool for the self-identity of Hungarians across the border, for the preservation of communities and culture.

He pointed out that the government, in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law, assumes responsibility for the fate of Hungarians living across the border, and supports the Hungarian communities.

The government subsidized the purchase of minibuses with HUF 500 million, for which the Rákóczi Association used HUF 150 million from its own resources.

he explained.

Source: MTI / civilek.info

Cover image: Facebook page of the Rákóczi Association