HIS-Press-Service, 1979 (4. évfolyam, 13-15. szám)
1979-06-01 / 15. szám
HIS Press Service No. 15, June 1979 Page 4 The Present Problems Facing Catholic Schools Before the Second World War, 40% of Hungary's schools were Church-run; they were taken over by the State in 1948. Hungary has at present six high schools for boys and two for girls which are run by various religious orders and are under Church jurisdiction. With the support of the country's dioceses, it is in these schools that most of the young men interested in later becoming priests receive their education. The Church schools are at present the only ones in Hungary in which an education in conformity with the Christian outlook on life is to be had, since in all the country's other schools ideological materialism serves as a mandatory guideline for education and upbringing. The Church schools, which exhibit an especially high niveau both scholastically and pedagogically, have been put at a grave disadvantage by the State: The nationalization of Church property by the State has deprived the Church of almost all sources of income, and so it is only with an expenditure of great effort that Hungary's Church has been able to maintain these schools, which are housed inold buildings,and equip them with the modern teaching aids needed to keep pace with those run by the State. An even greater difficulty is that students receiving their diplomas from a Church school are automatically at a disadvantage when it comes to acceptance at a university; this is documented by statistical facts. Statistics made public by the Ministry of Education state that at present one out of every two high school graduates is interested in continuing his studies. On a national average, in 1977 56% (1976: 54%) of the students taking the college entrance examination qualified for admittance; however, although the quality of their education is in no way inferior, only 39% (1976: 53%) of the Catholic school graduates who took the examination received qualifying marks. Only 48% (1976: 46%) of all students who took the test were actually admitted; of the graduates of Church schools, it was only 18% (1976: 17%) that / gained admission. On a national average, only 8% (1976: 9%) of the college applicants who passed the exam were refused admission due to limited enrollment; of the Catholic school graduates, however, 21% (1976: 36%) were refused admission on these grounds. It is especially these last statistics which document the discrimination practiced against graduates of Catholic high schools, since the rejections due to limited enrollment are in no way connected with the test results, but are instead left to the admissions committee to decide. The Hungarian bishops have brought this discrimination to the attention of the State Office of the Church, which is responsible for the preservation of religious freedom, and were promised that justified complaints would be followed up; however, there has been no change at all in the situation.
