THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

When children are 3 years old, they usually go to nursery school (or kinergarten),
where they learn simple games and solgs, and they do logical exercieses, they drow or
paint pictures which develop their manual skills.
Their first real school is called a primary school. In Hungary children start this school
at the age of 7. Primary school has two sections: junior and senior. Education is
compulsory from 7 to 18 years of age. But it was modified about half a year, because
the age limit was 16 years old.
After the primary school children can go to secondary school or secondary technical
school or vocational school. They can specialize in a lot of subjects such as:
Mathematics, Economics, foreign languages and so on.
Most children go to state schools, which are maintained by the government or local
educational authorities, but some children go to private schools, which can be
expensive.
In the junior section in the primary school children have 4 or 5 lessons per a day.
Between the lessons there are 10 minutes break. A teaching period is usually 40 or 45
minutes.
In the senior section the pupils have 5 or 6 lessons. The brakes are the same that I have
mentioned.
In the secondary school students have 5 or 7 lessons per day. In the secondary school
there is a compulsory examination, which is called school leaving exam. There are
four compulsory subjects in the exam such as Hungarian, Mathematics, History and a
foreign language. These compulsory subjects are the ones that everyone has to study.
From this year, the so-called two-level school leaving exam will be introduced. This
means that students who want to stop their studies at the age of 18 can take a basic
level exam but those who want to go on to higher education will have to do the

advanced level. In this way they wont have to take an entrance exam for colleges or
university.
In most schools children dont have to wear special clothes (uniforms).
In the colleges and universities there are 2 semesters. The first semester starts in
September. There are some holidays during the semester, which is called autumns
holiday, winters holiday. The first semester ends in January. At the end of the semester
is the examination season, it takes 5 weeks. In the second semester there is the springs
holiday. The longest holiday is in summer. This is between June and September.
At colleges and universities there are examination periods after every semester. Some
years ago the credit system was introduced, which means that you can go on with your
studies even if you failed in one or more subjects. You can try these exams again in the
following semester. But I dont know this system well, because I share in a traditional
instuctions.
Punishments and rewards:
Unfortunately the Hungarian school system is punishments-centered in my opinion.
Thats why most children hate or dont like going to school. As far as I know, it is
different in England. There, children are motivated by rewards to learn better. And so
they usually like their teachers and enjoy going to school. There are several kinds of
punishment: bad marks, extra tasks, and special information send to parents about their
child. Corporal punishment is naturally forbidden by law. Rewards are used by
teachers mostly in the junior section of the primary school. Children can get red
scores, colored pictures and stickers.
At colleges and universities students are motivated by grants. The better they learn the
higher grants they will get.