The Hungarian education system in the highlands is also characterized by stable numbers in this academic year

The Scientific-Technical Information Center of the Slovak Republic (CVTISR) has published, as in the previous school years, the staffing data of Slovakian kindergartens and primary and secondary educational institutions. The emerging trends allow us to conclude that, although the number of Hungarian school-starters is somewhat below the exceptionally high values ​​of the last two years, the situation of Hungarian education in the highlands remains stable, and the total number of students at each education level is more favorable than the average of previous years.

Again, the number of Hungarian kindergarten students in the highlands exceeds ten thousand

A trend that can be observed throughout the Carpathian Basin is that

the choice of the educational language of the kindergarten has a good chance of predestining the subsequent choice of Hungarian school,

i.e. those families who are effectively addressed by the modern and well-equipped Hungarian kindergartens, there is a good chance that they will choose a Hungarian school for their child who becomes compulsory school, and this decision determines the subsequent socialization and the formation of community ties.

In the Felvidék, the number of children attending Hungarian kindergartens has increased significantly over the past decade and a half, from 8,482 children in 2010 to 9,339 by the end of the decade.

In the 2024/2025 school year, the number of children attending Hungarian kindergarten groups in the highlands (10,011) once again crossed the psychological limit of ten thousand.

Among the factors explaining the growth, in addition to the growing trend of kindergarten attendance nationwide, we can also include the programs that encourage the choice of Hungarian institutions, such as the Carpathian Basin Kindergarten Development Program, since its launch in 2016, nearly eighty Hungarian kindergartens have been renewed or established in the Uplands.

The educational support provided by the Hungarian state within the framework of the Hungarian in the Motherland Program, which has been significantly increased from this school year, also encourages the choice of institutions in the mother tongue. Making attendance at kindergarten mandatory from the age of five (2021) helps to include socially disadvantaged children in the educational process.

The number of Hungarian primary and secondary school students in the highlands is characterized by stability

In the highlands, despite the effects of assimilation, the low birth rate and the unfavorable age of the Hungarian population, the number of pupils attending Hungarian primary schools can still be said to be stable, and it follows the development of national pupil numbers with more or less deviations.

The number of Hungarian primary school students continued to decrease in half of the 2010s, but a slight but clear increase can be observed since the low point in 2016: 29,256 in 2022, 29,433 in 2023, and 29,403 students this school year visited Hungarian primary schools.

In the previous two academic years, the number of Hungarian school-starters was exceptionally high, over 3,800. Therefore, it is clear that although the number of Hungarian school-starters this school year (3,635) was slightly below the average of the period since 2010, this did not significantly affect the total number of students attending Hungarian primary schools.

It is a positive development that in the scattered Szenc district, 56 Hungarian first-year students started their studies this year, as in the 2022/2023 school year, which is the most favorable figure in the last twenty years. In the Sándor Márai Elementary School in Kasa, the school year started with an unprecedented number of 36 school-starters in the last two decades.

In the 20 elementary schools affected by the Rákóczi Association's school bus network in the highlands - in the light of the data received on the Association's online interface - the total number of school-starters also increased.

Compared to the previous academic year, the proportion of Hungarian school-starters increased in many important settlements - such as Bős, Galántá, Komárom, Tornaljá or Szenc.

In the last few years, the numbers of Hungarian high schools and vocational high schools in the highlands have also developed favorably. The number of students attending Hungarian high school classes and participating in vocational training in Hungarian has stabilized and even slightly increased. Overall, the number of Hungarians participating in kindergarten, primary and secondary education in the highlands - including students in special classes - has been continuously increasing since 2021, and currently stands at 50,262.

Reducing early school leaving is key

order to maintain and further improve the favorable trends, effectively reaching out to , it is essential to improve the educational participation of socially disadvantaged students.

In the last five academic years, the graduating classes of the Hungarian primary schools in the Upland have an average of approx. 2,850 students attended, which is more than eight hundred less than the average for the first grade. The decrease in numbers between the first and last year of elementary school is the result of several factors.

On the one hand, we can count on a maximum of 100 students per year who continue their studies in one of the five Hungarian-language eight-grade high schools after the lower elementary school.

Another group is made up of students who transfer to Slovak-language or special schools after starting primary school, and those who typically enroll in prestigious institutions in Hungary after the eighth grade, i.e. before finishing primary school in Slovakia.

There may be a smaller number of people who no longer appear in the statistics due to a long-term stay abroad or other circumstances, such as health conditions. At the same time, especially by examining the data of disadvantaged areas, there is reason to assume that a significant number of students who "disappear" from the system per year do not finish primary school despite the official 12-year compulsory schooling due to frequent repetitions and absences.

In secondary schools, the total number of students decreases step by step as the grade goes up. All of this, in addition to the personal life prospects of the people involved, negatively affects the staffing data of the individual institutions, and thereby worsens the competitiveness of the Hungarian high school structure in the highlands, which is about to be transformed.

In the period ahead, both the profession and the politician must make it a priority for Hungarian-speaking youth from the highlands to obtain a competitive education as much as possible after completing primary school and thereby contribute to the growth of their communities and the building of a work-based society.

The author is the head of research and analysis at the Rákóczi Association.

Ferenc Sullivan/ Felvidék.ma

Cover image: Illustration / Photo: MTI Zsolt Czeglédi