Government Supports Mother Tongue Education of Minority Hungarians

The initiative to support the mother tongue education of Hungarians abroad, the “Hungarian in the Homeland” program, has been launched. Applications for support for education, textbooks and teaching materials can be submitted until May 8, the State Secretary for National Policy of the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Tuesday.

Support for the Hungarian-language education of Hungarians living abroad is a guarantee for the survival of Hungarians, that also helps Hungarian families and children to prosper in their homeland, Lőrinc Nacsa stressed. Registration for the program is open since Tuesday for support for education, teaching, textbooks and teaching materials, as well as for student support.

This academic year, the amount of the contribution will be HUF 100,000 (EUR 244) gross per child or student.

This amount can be applied for once for a given academic year, the State Secretary added.

Kindergarten, primary and secondary school children, as well as college and university students from Transylvania (region in Romania), Slovakia, Transcarpathia (in Ukraine), Croatia and Prekmurje (in Slovenia), who are participating in Hungarian-language education in their native land, can receive the subsidy. Parents can register their children for the program, while college and university students can register themselves.

The State Secretary said that

the message of the program is that there is no alternative to quality education in the mother tongue for the survival of the Hungarian language.

He said that the government believes in strong communities and quality education, and that is why they consider it important to support Hungarian children abroad in their education and in their sense of community. The State Secretary recalled that since 2010, the State Secretariat for National Policy has given priority to supporting Hungarian-language education in afternoon schools, Hungarian-language day-care centers, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, and higher education.

Csongor Csáky, President of the Rákóczi Association, that is implementing the program, stressed that one of the most important programs of national policy is being implemented with great cooperation.

He noted that this year’s applications could only be submitted electronically, on the mipont.hu website, and that the process has been significantly simplified: those who registered last year can submit their applications in a few minutes, without having to upload documents and data again.

After logging in, the interface also offers tutorial videos at the bottom of the main page, as well as a chatbot and the Rákóczi Association’s customer service to help applicants. Csongor Csáky added that the digital switchover has increased the number of participants in the program: last year, more than 237,000 applications were received, of which more than 227,000 were approved.

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