State secretary expects smooth school year start

Speaking at a press conference, he said deliveries of some 13 million textbooks to 4,200 schools nationwide had started early in August and were completed in a timely manner.

Concerning the staffing of schools, Retvari said there had been “no extraordinary changes” in the number of teachers.

He said the provision of textbooks, free of charge to pupils, would cost the central budget a total 13.5 billion forints (EUR m). If families were to pay for the textbooks, as they had before 2010, they would face expenses of 30,000-40,000 forints each, he added.

The state secretary also said the textbooks were continually updated in cooperation with teachers and students. He noted that each textbook was given a final licence after a three-year trial period and corrections. He also noted that schools had an opportunity to order their textbooks from 36 publishers including both state-run and private companies.