Leftist DK to investigate number of missing teachers in Hungarian education

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) will write to all school district heads to find out how many teachers are missing from Hungarian public education, with a view to working on a solution, a lawmaker of the leftist party told a press conference on Tuesday.

Gergely Arató said all sectors of public education suffer from a shortage of teachers. “This is not a unfortunate happenstance,” he said.

“It is the responsibility of the government which stripped teachers of their independence and humiliated them at every turn.”

Young teachers are expected to teach children for as little as 130,000-140,000 forints a month (EUR 399.5-430.2), he added.

At a separate press conference, Bence Rétvári, a state secretary of the human resources ministry, said that

the 2020 budget will boost funding for education as well as for family subsidies, health care and pensions.