Education has been one of the most decisive topics of the Hungarian public life since the change of regime in 1989. Sadly, mostly in a negative way. It is especially true for the last two years, because of the longest wave of education protests, which included numerous teachers’ strikes. The reason behind these demonstrations isn’t just the low wages of teachers, but also the critical state of the education system as a whole, which affects not just the teachers, but all of Hungary – students, parents, the economy and the entire society – and almost everyone has their own opinion of it. In the latest research1 of Republikon, we surveyed how the Hungarian society views the state of the education system, including different demographic groups and voter bases of parties.
- The Hungarian education system got overwhelmingly negative ratings. 62%, almost 2/3 of the total population viewed it negatively, and only 9% of respondents gave a positive rating, which means that the Hungarian society’s view about the educational system is largely negative.
- The voters of Fidesz-KDNP aren’t satisfied with the Hungarian education system either; 43% of them had a negative opinion of it, and only 21% of them rated it positively.
More than three quarters of opposition voters had a negative opinion of the educational system.
- The more time someone spends in education, the worse their opinion of it is. While „only” 55% of respondents with elementary education thinks negatively, this rate among graduates is 68%, more than 2/3.
- Overall, there are obvious trends: younger respondents, who live in bigger cities and have higher education, tend to be more critical towards the education system than the already general negative view. However, it is important to mention, that these are the exact groups in which the opposition voters are overrepresented, so not just demographic, but also political fault lines can influence the opinions of the education.
The full analysis can be read here.