published in Postimees, 27 November 2022

Recently, the news of the Hungarian teachers’ protests have reached Estonian media. This prompted discussions on the state of the Estonian education system and whether things are really that much better up here than over there.

Though discussions on the education system are always relevant, let me put into perspective what is really happening in Hungary and why.

Hungarian teachers’ protests and strikes have actually been going on since January, while unrest and dissatisfaction has been in the forefront of public discussion for years. 

It is widely reported that teachers are protesting because of their low salary: an early-career teacher’s salary is currently 506 euros after taxes. In Hungary the salary increases with seniority, so a master teacher with over 40 years of experience may earn a minimum 970 euros per month. Meanwhile, the net salary of a teacher in Estonia was 1,165 euros in 2022, the minimum wage for teachers will rise to 1,845 euros from next year, which means a net salary of around 1,550 euros.

Hungary is not a particularly cheaper country than Estonia. Nor has the inflation been smaller. In Estonia, it has been 22,5%, in Hungary 21.9%. An average 40 m2 apartment in Budapest costs 400-500 eur without utilities, that are 110-140 eur per month on average. The general problem of Hungarian teachers is not being unable to go to the theater: they can’t even afford a coffee downtown.

Salary is only one side of the problem though. The other is workload. Hungarian teachers have the highest mandatory teaching hours in the EU. On top of this, education in Hungary is highly supervised: teachers have to maintain a so-called portfolio in which they have to report what, where and how they are doing, which is hours of additional work and stress each week. The progressive salary is determined based on this portfolio.

Another problem is the curriculum, which is impossibly crowded, and unsuitable for modern life. While modern education tends in the direction of less lexical knowledge and more practical skills, the newest (2020) Hungarian base curriculum somehow manages to be even more theoretical and less practical than the previous one. The new textbooks have been compiled with direct government supervision and without any consultation with professional organizations, and as a result, instead of supporting materials, they often are yet another obstacle to overcome. They received criticism for unprofessionalism, factual mistakes, or being vessels of certain political agendas, including Russian propaganda. While buying these books is mandatory, teachers often teach from older textbooks to maintain the quality of their work.

School conditions are humiliating. Furniture is old, technology is almost nonexistent. It is also not uncommon that parents paint the walls or equip the toilets with their own money. Because of the heating crisis, currently schools are forbidden to be heated warmer than 18 degrees, but some simply have no heating at all. Universities are using their libraries to hold exams during exam period.

The biggest problem of all though, is that there are simply no teachers. The pedagogist’s career is so unattractive that young people do not apply, and even those who do leave the field in the first 10 years due to burnout and poverty. More than half of those who are still on the field are over 50, while only 5% are under 30. A common problem is that students cannot specialize on their subject of choice because there is nobody to teach them. Therefore, in order to pass their final exams they turn to private tutoring after school hours, which is an additional financial strain on families. Teacher shortage creates a vicious circle: it lowers the quality of education, which leads to deterioration of basic cognitive skills, which produces more students needing special attention, which is additional workload on the already struggling system. The result is often early dropout, or, as one protester’s banner said: everybody will be stupid.

It is commonly believed that the Hungarian education system is on the verge of collapse, though many on the field argue it has already collapsed. I can’t comment on the Estonian situation, but I firmly believe the state should invest in education as much as it can. Hungary can stand as an example of what happens when it doesn’t.