Hungarian Academy of Sciences demands reinstatement of fired teachers

On Tuesday afternoon, the Presidium of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) issued a resolution on "the situation of public education and the necessary steps for its development". In it, the body, "guided by its responsibility for the future of Hungarian public education", welcomes the fact that "in the current, increasingly tense situation" a dialogue has begun on solving the problems of public education with the participation of both the government and the teachers' representatives. They add that the dialogue must include everyone, and

the teachers who have been dismissed must be reinstated in their original positions.

MTA's resolution does not mention the role of the Minister of the Interior, Sándor Pintér, who is responsible for education and the dismissals. Instead of calling on the competent minister, the resolution calls for the intercession of the President of the Republic, Katalin Novák.

The body considers it "forward-looking" that the ministry responsible for public education has made public its programme of measures for a real pay rise for teachers, but it considers it necessary that

• teachers' salaries should reach the current average of the salaries of those with the same level of education and training;
• pay-for-performance should be introduced;
• teachers' professional autonomy must be guaranteed, as this is the only way to make teaching an attractive career and raise the quality of public education;
• teacher training at universities must be strengthened to ensure a supply of teachers.

Lastly, the public education system needs an extensive overhaul in the form of a public education development program that spans electoral cycles and is based on a ‘consensus of the whole society’. The program,

in addition to nurturing outstanding talents, should also meet the objective of increasing social cohesion and catching up.

The resolution does not explicitly state the long-standing claim of professional organisations that education deserves its own ministry, in line with international and pre-2010 Hungarian practice, nor does it address the points of the pay rise that trade unions object to.

In the resolution, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences offered the "knowledge and experience" of its members and bodies, in particular the Scientific Committee for Pedagogy and the Presidential Committee for Public Education, to help create the conditions for a scientifically sound, modern public education.

In mid-October, MTA issued a similar resolution stating that "the development of the education system is both a moral duty and economically rational" and warning that the "current situation is unsustainable". They also added that without an excellent education system we cannot keep pace with the countries of our region, much less catch up with the developed countries of the West or the rapidly developing countries of the Far East.

And in December, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Department of Philosophy and History declared that teachers' salaries should be raised to the level of the average tertiary graduate salary.