Thousands of people demonstrated in central Budapest on Monday, September 2, after the principal of a well-known high school was fired for failing to comply with a government order “prohibitions on the use of smartphones”.
“European Truth” writes about this, AFP reports.
In August, the Hungarian government passed a resolution requiring schools to collect students' phones and smart devices at the beginning of the day.
After Earlier this year, Imre Madac High School in Budapest announced that it would not comply with the provision as it aims to teach students “the proper use of digital culture”.
In response, the Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs – which from 2022 supervises state education – sacked the principal of the school, Chaba Mesharosh, saying that “a leader who does not follow the law and openly defies it cannot lead a public institution”.
Because of this, on the first day of the new school year, several thousand people protested gathered in the square near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Hungary. They criticized the adopted ban on smartphones in schools.
“I think this protest is not only about the restriction of mobile phones, but also about the state of public education in general,” – Katalin Elteto, a 71-year-old retired teacher, told AFP, noting that she was upset by the lack of public discussion about the ban. Last year, the country passed a law that increases the workload on teachers and deprives them of the status of civil servants.
It should be noted that in other European countries bans on mobile phones in schools have also been passed, but these bans are milder and were introduced after public discussions and support from parents and teachers.