Government spokeswoman Eszter Vitályos said September’s family support and childcare benefits would be disbursed early this year in order to reduce parents’ burdens and help the start of the school year. Vitályos said the post office will start delivering the payments on Friday and the State Treasury will start to make bank transfers on the same day. As a result, some 1.1 million families can receive the family support benefits ahead of the start of the school year. The government will again provide free textbooks to all students in public education and vocational training, and through the local governments, free or low cost meals will be provided to students in large families and to families that raise disabled children. Some 13 million text books and 70,000 other materials will be delivered to 4,100 schools, for 1.2 million children, she said. Public schools have seen a substantial digital development in the past five years, with some 500,000 notebooks distributed to 5-12 graders, 200 smart text books were developed and students and teachers now have access to thousands of digital teaching materials, she said.
Vitályos said the school development of the past years had been “unprecedented”, with the development of 5,680 kindergartens and schools, and with 220 projects under way to construct swimming pools, gym halls and classrooms, as well as entire schools and one kindergarten.
Vitályos said the state-funded Erzsébet camps were now operating year-round, and classes were able to organise school trips to Zánka, at Lake Balaton, in autumn, spring and the Advent season.
Meanwhile, older students now have access to funding for driving and language tests. Since its introduction in 2018, some 196,000 students have received support for driving tests, and 187,000 have been refunded for their successful language exams, Vitályos said. The government has ploughed 4.9 billion and 6.5 billion forints into the two projects, respectively, she added. Courses for the driving exams have been free for students in public education since January 1, 2024, she said. Further, the government is working to maintain and possibly expand family support. Tax cuts have left some 4,500 billion forints with families between 2011 and 2023, and under-25s are exempt from the personal income tax, she said.