Concerning education being the responsibility of the interior ministry, Orbán said leaders had to be competent in leadership and could rely on experts when it came to various professional areas. Leaders must integrate knowledge into the area they control, he added. The government’s intention had been to consult with unions on matters concerning financial demands and with teachers on professional matters, the prime minister said.
Orbán said that in 2007, the dismantling of cordons by then-opposition Fidesz officials had been an act of protest against the “police government” which he said had violated freedoms and the law on the right to assembly. He said in connection with protests by teachers that all public sector employees needed to respect the legal forms of protesting, “otherwise they harm those who don’t deserve it”. In the public sector it is twice as important not to approach things from a political aspect, but rather to stick to the law, he added.
As regards the state of public education, Orbán said the prime minister should listen to parents, students and teachers rather than pass his own judgment. The knowledge young people bring to their first job is also important, he added. Orbán also said that what mattered most was young people’s physical and spiritual health, noting that the government had addressed this by increasing the number of physical education classes and introducing religious education classes. The prime minister said he was on the side of teachers on the issue of pay rises, noting that following the recovery from the financial crisis after 2010, education had been the first area where the government introduced the career model. He added that a more significant pay rise was needed to correct the disproportionality in “unacceptably low entry salaries”.