Budapest Says Kiev To Reward Minorities For Sending Children To Ukrainian-Language Classes

Budapest considers it unacceptable that many Ukrainian state institutions are ready to pay $850 a year to Hungarians in the Zakarpattia region if they send their children to Ukrainian-language classes, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday

BUDAPEST (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2023) Budapest considers it unacceptable that many Ukrainian state institutions are ready to pay $850 a year to Hungarians in the Zakarpattia region if they send their children to Ukrainian-language classes, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.

"While the European Union allocates several billion Euros to support the functioning of the Ukrainian state, some Ukrainian state institutions promise support of 300,000 forints ($850) per year during four years to those families who enroll children not in minority classes, but in the classes of the Ukrainian state language. Obviously, this kind of step against national communities and minorities is unacceptable," Szijjarto told the parliament.

Szijjarto noted that while Ukrainian children were admitted to 1,247 kindergartens and schools in Hungary, Ukraine was going to start closing all 99 Hungarian minority schools in September.

In addition, the Ukrainian government will limit the number of subjects taught in national languages to 20% after the fourth grade and ban the option of passing final and entrance exams in Hungarian, the minister added.

Tensions between Hungary and Ukraine flared up due to the 2017 Ukrainian law on education that restricts opportunities to study in their native language for minorities in the country. Hungarian officials have criticized the law, saying it discriminates against the Hungarian minority living in Ukraine's western part. Later, the media reported that Hungarian flags were removed from public institutions in the Ukrainian city of Mukachevo and local villages, and several heads of Hungarian institutions close to the Hungarian Cultural Association of Zakarpattia were fired.