The World Briefly

July 05, 2023

Brain Drain

Hungary

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The Hungarian parliament passed a bill Tuesday that will impact the country’s teachers, a move that critics believe could lead to the resignation of thousands of educators in protest, Bloomberg reported.

Lawmakers of the ruling populist Fidesz party – which controls two-thirds of parliament – approved the so-called status law, which will see teachers lose their status as public employees and limit their autonomy.

The new legislation will also raise the number of required hours of teaching per week and allow the government to relocate teachers.

The move follows months-long protests – including demonstrations during the 2022 general election – by teachers and students demanding better working conditions and higher wages.

Currently, Hungarian primary education teachers with 15 years of experience earn the second-lowest teacher’s wage among the 38 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Government officials said the legislation will ensure a steady increase in teacher’s wages, even though they have blamed the European Union for their inability to pay educators better – referring to the blocking of EU funds due to concerns held by the bloc about corruption and the rule of law in the country.

But critics warned that the bill will increase pressure on teachers and could push staffing in the education sector to critical levels. More than 5,000 teachers vowed to resign in protest if the law was passed.

Meanwhile, observers described the move as another effort by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to consolidate his more than decade-old hold on power. Orban and his ruling Fidesz party have extended their influence in the country’s media, courts, and across large swaths of the economy.

Following last year’s election victory, the government has since limited the right of teachers to strike and transferred oversight of education to the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for law enforcement.

This story originally appeared in the July 05, 2023 newsletter, Come Visit.