Kerry Hagnall, Deputy Inspector General of Bihar Province, told MTI that Lorántffy Zsuzsanna Reformed Secondary School in Nagyvárad will take over Hungarian classes at Nicolae Bălcescu Elementary School accused of apartheid from next school year.
Hungarian language classes at the Nagyvárad Bilingual School became the center of attention in August last year, when an Education Ministry committee thought it suspected apartheid in the fact that they had been moved to the Királyhágómelléki building Református Egyházkerulet (KREK). To refute this, the church also accommodated a Romanian language class in the building which it offered for free, purchased and renovated with the support of the Hungarian state. On the day of the beginning of the school year, the lease agreement previously concluded with the mayor’s office was also amended.
Kerry Hagnall, Deputy Chief Inspector of Bihar Province, told MTI: The inspectorate and the municipality have decided that Lorantvi High School will take over the affected Hungarian classes from the next academic year, preventing similar interpretations. “Any similar interpretation or misinterpretation of the law is ruled out,” the official said, referring to accusations of racial segregation. He added: The church school will take over the building and the Hungarian chapters will take over the studies in it, so they will belong to the same institution.
Eight classes are affected by the reorganization, from the preparatory grade, which ensures the transition from kindergarten to primary school, to the eighth grade. The deputy superintendent said that the church school would take them along with the Hungarian teachers, while the Romanian class studying in the building would return to the main building of the Bălcescu seminary.
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As a first step, the management of the two schools is preparing documents to ensure the smooth running of the seized classes. The inspectorate will verify its report and send it to the Agency for Quality Assurance in Public Education (ARACIP) next week. This body submits the case to the Ministry of Education for approval, which endorses the change by ministerial decision. Kerry Hgnall said the legislation must be published by the first day of the 2023-2024 school year, by which time the local government board must give its approval to the reorganized school network.
Apart from Lorántffy Zsuzsanna Református Gimnázium, there are several independent Hungarian schools in Nagyvárád, but several Hungarian classes are part of bilingual educational institutes.
