The ongoing privatization of the Hungarian school network and its effects

Abstract

Since 2010 two major changes were implemented in the proprietary structure of the Hungarian primary and upper-secondary school network: the takeover of all self-government owned schools by the central government (widely referred to as the “nationalization” of schools), and the government assisted privatization of a significant part of the community owned network of schools to various churches. The paper provides and overview of the transformation of the proprietary structure of the education system and of the various policy instruments the government applied in order to foster the privatization process. In the following sections the authors analyze the impact of the privatization process on efficiency, quality and effectiveness of primary and secondary education, as well as its effects on selection and the segregation of Roma pupils. The paper concludes with outlining certain educational policy dilemmas in connection to the problems revealed by the analysis.