Tuition fee introduced, workload of teachers raised

In its last, busy, session of the summer yesterday, Parliament passed a bill introducing tuition fees for post-secondary students, and another requiring teachers to work more hours, but rejected a proposal to reduce the number of MPs.

College and university students will be compelled to pay tuition fees from the 2007 school year. Students will be required to pay Ft 105,000, on average, each year for a bachelor's degree course and Ft 150,000 annually for a master's course. The fees do not apply until the student's second year, as the exact sum will depend on the results achieved in the first year. Poorer students may be allowed to study free of charge.

The students councils association HÖOK immediately announced that it will organise a protest demonstration for September. Fidesz deputy chairman Zoltán Pokorni later announced that his party will challenge the legislation in the Constitutional Court.

Under another amendment, teachers in primary and secondary schools will give extra classes every week. From September 2007 primary school teachers will put in an additional hour of tutoring every week, and high school teachers an additional two hours.

On other matters, Parliament rejected a bill that would lower the number of MPs from 386 to 298 by abolishing regional lists and preserving only party national lists and individual constituencies. MPs again rejected a proposal to establish small regional associations to replace the county system. Both proposals required a two-thirds majority.

MPs will no longer be able to invoke their right to immunity from prosecution when suspected of traffic violations. The right to immunity will no longer be valid for crimes falling under the authority of an international court.

In another change, MPs, MEPs, or their next of kin living in the same household may not be senior officials at state or local government-owned companies or members of their supervisory boards.

Those deprived of their life and liberty for political considerations, or their descendants, may apply for compensation until December 31, 2006, as the original deadline July 31 was extended yesterday.

Parliament passed a bill establishing the frameworks for founding and operating European Co-operatives based in Hungary. The purpose of such co-operatives is to facilitate activity across the EU by a single company. A European co-operative may be formed by at least five natural persons or at least two legal entities from at least two EU states.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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