The opening ceremony began with the singing of the Hungarian and then the Ukrainian national anthem, followed by a welcome speech by Liliana Grexa, speaker for Hungary's Ukrainian national minority in Parliament. She described the event as a historic moment, as it was the first national minority school in Hungary to officially teach the Ukrainian language at state-certified level. She added that the institution is run by the country's Ukrainian national minority self-government.
Classes for a total of 92 students will be held in Budapest and Nyiregyhaza. The Ukrainian language will be taught four hours a week, and Ukrainian Life and People is taught two hours a week.
The national minority school was started for children of Hungarian nationality to strengthen ties with their ancestors. They have now been joined by children who have fled because of the war. Fifteen refugees are studying in the two schools.
Norbert Pal, the government commissioner responsible for refugees fleeing the Russian-Ukrainian war to Hungary, was also a guest at the opening ceremony and said that a long-standing dream of the ethnic Ukrainian minority in Hungary had come true with the establishment of a school within the Hungarian public education system. He recalled that similar institutions exist for the Bulgarian, Polish and Greek minorities in the country.
I believe that for Ukrainians fleeing the war, this school will be a gravitational point, in addition to the ethnic Ukrainian minority already living here,
the commissioner said.
Istvan Balog, Ukraine's interim ambassador to Hungary, was also present at the event, and said that the Ukrainian minority has been fighting for their own school since 2008 but that this historic moment has now arrived. For a diplomat, the creation of this school means that the minority of the country he represents has the right to learn its mother tongue, its culture and to preserve its identity.
The representative also pointed out that at the time the school opens, Ukraine is at war.
