Ministry: OECD acknowledges achievements of Hungarian public education

Hungary, unlike many other countries, is not faced with the problem of a “childcare gap”, with children having access to free nursery placement directly after the expiry of paid home care leave, and are required to be enrolled in early childhood education from the age of 3, the ministry said. This has expanded the duration of compulsory education to 13 years, which exceeds the OECD average of 11 years.

Fully 96 percent of children in Hungary are enrolled in kindergarten compared with the OECD average of 85 percent, the statement said.

According to the report, the average class size in Hungarian primary schools is 22 students, below the OECD average of 27. The ratio of primary school students per teacher is 11 compared with the OECD average of 14. The share of students who have to repeat a grade is 1.7 percent in grades 5-8 compared with the OECD average of 2.2 percent in secondary school (OECD: 3.2 percent).

The share of young adults who leave secondary school without a qualification is 13 percent compared with the OECD average of 14 percent, the ministry said.