This year, nearly 13 million textbooks will be delivered free of charge to students in public education and vocational training at the beginning of the school year, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior announced on Tuesday in Budapest .
At the press conference held at Géza Gárdonyi Primary School in Újbuda, Bence Rétvári pointed out: instead of the increasingly expensive paid textbooks, following government measures, students will receive textbooks free of charge, which is seen as a family support measure.
He reminded that by 2010, the price of textbook packages had increased by 71 percent every year in eight years, meaning that families had to pay more and more.
In this situation, it was decided after 2010 that everyone in the state textbook development system would get free textbooks, which would cost a family HUF 20-40 thousand. 80,000 free school supplies will be distributed to families in need, he said.
In addition to paper-based teaching materials, he continued, digital teaching materials are also constantly expanding: 200 new digital teaching materials can be seen on the National Public Education Portal, which has already been downloaded 193 million times.
In addition to the 450,000 laptops distributed in recent years, another 100,000 laptops will be delivered to Hungarian students by the end of 2025, the secretary of state said.
Government spokesperson Eszter Vitályos confirmed at the press conference that after the government’s decision, the 1.1 million affected families have already received the amount of ghees, gyed and family items they are due In September last week, before the start of the school year, and 1.2 million students will receive free textbooks with this, the state will take HUF 15 billion off the shoulders of Hungarian families.
Discounted or free children’s meals are provided through the municipalities for large families and those raising several children. In addition, from September 1, all young people studying in public education and vocational training will receive help to reimburse the costs of the KRESZ test required to obtain a category B driver’s license get it, he said.
He also informed that the situation regarding salary increase for teachers was reviewed at the government meeting last week. It was found that teachers earn 670-680 thousand forints after an average salary increase of 32 percent this year. At the same time, another increase of about 21 percent is expected on January 1, after which the average salary of teachers will increase to HUF 820,000.
According to his statement, the government plans to continue salary increases until 2030, which means that by 2027 the average salary of teachers will be even higher than one million HUF.
The government believes it is important to honor teachers not only financially, but also morally, because the future is in their hands through our children, said Eszter Vitályos.
Source: MTI
Photo: MTI/Tamas Kovács
