Despite borders shutting down, civil society in the mother country continues to support ethnic Hungarian communities

This September, the Rákóczi Association will greet over 9000 ethnic Hungarian pupils beginning their education in Hungarian-language primary schools with help from its network spanning the Carpathian Basin.

Between 16 and 23 September, Rákóczi Associon's scholarship honouring Hungarian school choice will be handed out to the families of 1831 first-graders in 89 settlements throughout Subcarpathia by the Association's local partners. The scholarship, backed by civil society in the mother country including hundreds of municipalities, is a recognition of parents' correct and responsible decision, owing to the fact that Hungarian school choice is the guarantee of the subsistence of Hungarian language and culture in minority communities.

The Rákóczi Association's Hungarian School Choice Programme was launched in the Felvidék region back in 2004 with the aim of increasing the number of families choosing education in their children's mother tongue. Since then, the programme has assisted hundreds of children throughout the Carpathian Basin in pursuing their studies in their native language.

While the curricular year is surrounded by a number of uncertainties in the entire Carpathian Basin and pupils in Subcarpathia are also facing difficulties at the start of the school term, the Rákóczi Association does all it can to ensure that Hungarian families sense the support of civil society in the mother country in this dire situation.