Ukrainian school principal to abolish rights of Hungarians: Hungarian language to be eliminated

In Ukraine, the new headmaster of a Transcarpathian secondary school wants to abolish the Hungarian language and take steps to Ukrainianise education.

New principal against Hungarians

The Ferenc Rákóczi II Secondary School in Transcarpathia has just changed its headmaster. The new headmistress, Marija Pauk, is taking measures to gradually eliminate the Hungarian language and teachers and to make education more lifelong.

The former director, István Schink, was dismissed overnight at the beginning of 2023 without explanation, index.hu reports. The chair of the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia (KMKSZ) protested in a statement that the city council had appointed a director with no ties to either the Hungarian community or the school.

Krisztián Molnár, a teacher at the school, said that the headmaster was replaced overnight. In connection with the Ukrainian language law, Krisztián Molnár said at the time that it was possible that he would have to teach his students in Ukrainian next year. The appointment of a new headmaster could be part of the restructuring of the Hungarian school.

Hungarian education banned

The Ferenc Rákóczi II Secondary School reported in a Facebook post published on Thursday that the new principal is indeed working to undermine Hungarian education.

“At our trade union meeting, the appointed director and her deputy indicated that their short-term goal is to Ukrainianise the school, to teach Hungarian as a foreign language, to start a Ukrainian first class from September, and to teach some of the subjects in Ukrainian,” the Facebook post reads.

The post describes that through the strong protest and united stand of their teaching staff, they have managed to ensure that for the time being no Ukrainian-language class will start and the language of instruction will remain Hungarian, but it is now clear that “the city administration’s plan is to end Hungarian education in our school as soon as possible”.

Mandiner.hu notes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Katalin Novak that what the members of the Ukrainian minority in Hungary receive, they will give to the members of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.

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