→ → → Structure of the education system in Hungary and general information
Mandatory school age in Hungary is between age 6 and 16 for everyone who resides in the territory of Hungary for more than 3 months.
The general education institutions:
Nursery (not mandatory)
Kindergarten
Primary school
Upper secondary general schools/ upper secondary vocational schools/ vocational schools/ technicum/ special vocational schools
Higher education institutions
Mandatory school age is between age 6 and 16. Children reaching age 6 until 31 August become compulsory school-age on 1 September of the same year.
Basic education is provided in 8-grade single structure schools comprising primary and lower secondary education.
Primary education: grades 1 to 4
Lower secondary education: grades 5 to 8
Upper-secondary schools offer secondary programmes from 9-12 grades or comprising lower and upper secondary levels covering grades 5 to 12 or grades 7 to 12 (These called 6-grade or 8-grade upper secondary schools).
In public institutions (mostly run by the government or a church), kindergarten, primary, and secondary education are all free in Hungary. Regarding the nursery, the cost must be confirmed with the nursery because it is subject to local municipality regulations and is not always free.
Private institutions are also available and there are several international kindergartens and schools in Hungary. In this case, prices vary depending on whether the boarding is included in the price or not.
For example: there are kindergartens where the lodging is 55.000 HUF (183 Euros) that includes salt therapy 2-3 times a week, playful English or German classes and optional afternoon activities like swimming, gymnastics or religious classes. Then comes the price of the meal, that is 850 HUF (2.8 Euros) a day. All in all, this means that the expenditure of a private kindergarten is 73.700 HUF (245.67 Euros). There are institutions in the capital where the lodging is 56.000 HUF (187 Euros), 75.000 HUF (250 Euros), 80.000 Ft (267 Euros) or 85.000 Ft (283.3 Euros) for a month.
Application: Schools may be requesting certain documents for enrolment, which may include the following: Filled-in application document, Birth certificate of your child, Document indicating the ID of your child (e.g. passport, ID card), Health insurance number of the child (Temporary protection card number may be sufficient), Document indicating your ID (e.g. passport, ID card), Temporary Protection card or other residency card , Vaccination documents, Certificate of last finished school year, Document indicating your address. If you do not have these documents, please do not be discouraged and explain your situation to the school management.
Schools (on all levels) often offer “open days”, where you can get some information – check the dates of the open days on the school’s website.
Changing of schools: Every student has the right to change school. There could be many different reasons for this, for example due to moving house, not liking the school, having conflicts within the school, etc. These are all understandable reasons, and no detailed explanation of it can be required from the family.
In case a student decides to change school, the student together with a parent/legal guardian should contact the new school and inform the current one. If the student is applying to the school that is the one obliged to provide enrolment, the school must enrol the child. In all other cases, the school director can decide on the enrolment and set the entry criteria. If the new school accepts the enrolment request of the student, the student has the obligation to withdraw from the other school.
