The Hungarian government has decided to provide 1 billion forints (EUR 2.6m) worth of funding this year to the ongoing construction of the Wesselényi Reformed School in Zilah (Zalau) in Transylvania, the state secretary for church and minority relations said in the city where he visited the site of the ongoing project. „The reformed school has a 500-year history, and we have an obligation to serve the tradition,” Miklós Soltész said, adding that schools and kindergartens were essential for the Hungarian community’s survival. He said that „in their fight for being able to provide education to children, churches faced many hurdles even after the regime change,” making reference to lawsuits launched against the restitution of church property nationalised by the communist regime. He said that the new school project „will also benefit the Romanian state in form of tax revenues” and „contribute to making the city more beautiful”.
Szabolcs János Bogdán, bishop of the Bucea Reformed Church District, said at the site that properties taken into state ownership by the communist regime had still not been returned to the church. „Now the Hungarian community in our district has received not only financial but a spiritual support as well,” he said. The construction of the four-floor school began in 2022 on a plot purchased by the church. It will have some 24 classrooms, labs, a hall and a library, as well as a sports field.