The 2020/2021 school year started with traditional classroom education in institutions for initial and vocational education. Tertiary educational institutions launched the academic year with digital learning outside the classroom.
Following the protective measures introduced owing to the Covid19 pandemic in November 2020, secondary schools changed to digital education again, while primary schools changed in March 2021. During the spring of 2021, after the gradual easing of protective measures, educational institutions, except for tertiary education, closed the school year in the traditional form.
In the 2020/2021 school year 1.8 million children and young people participate in the different levels of initial, vocational and tertiary education in Hungary. Compared to the previous school year, the number of kindergarten children (323 thousand) and students in secondary educational institutions (469 thousand) decreased, while that of students in primary schools (729 thousand) and in tertiary educational institutions (287 thousand) increased. Similarly to the previous school year, 2.5 thousand children with severe and multiple disabilities fulfil their compulsory school attendance in schools within developmental education.
In the 2020/2021 school year there are 4,575 kindergarten sites in Hungary; their number has increased by 5.0% in the past 10 years. The upward trend in the number of kindergarten children from 2016 stopped in 2020; at present a total of 323 thousand children, 7.8 thousand fewer than a year earlier, attend kindergartens. At national level, there are 84 children per one hundred kindergarten places, at district level, there is no shortage of kindergarten places, while it might occur at local, settlement level.
The number of kindergartens has increased by 5.0% in the past ten years
In the 2020/2021 school year, the kindergarten education of young children took place at 4,575 kindergarten sites, whose number increased by 5.0% over a period of ten years. The majority, almost 84% of kindergartens are operated by settlement / district local governments and state maintainers. Considering kindergarten sites, the number of kindergartens maintained by a church has grown the fastest, with their proportion continuously increasing since 2010; at present 8.8% of kindergartens are operated by church organisations.
Nearly 8 thousand fewer children at kindergartens
The number of children receiving kindergarten education is nearly 323 thousand, 7.8 thousand fewer than a year earlier. The upward trend starting in 2016 stopped in 2020, due to the moderating growth in the number of children of corresponding age and the increasing number of primary school enrolment of six-year-old children. The number of six-year-old kindergarten children fell by 7.6 thousand compared to the 2019/2020 school year, while their proportion among kindergarten children declined by 2 percentage points, to 15.5%.
Following the population distribution of the relevant age group by sex, the composition of kindergarten children by sex has not changed in the past 10 years; boys are still in the majority with a proportion of 52%. Considering years of age, we can see that while among kindergarten children under 3 years of age the proportion of boys is 48%, a surplus of boys can be observed among the six-year-olds (56%) and the seven-year-olds (68%). This can partly be explained by the later school readiness of boys.
The capacity rate of kindergartens decreases
In the 2020/2021 school year there were 384 thousand kindergarten places for kindergarten-aged children, 2 thousand fewer than in the previous school year. At national level, the capacity rate of kindergartens is on the decrease: while in the 2010/2011 school year there were 91 children per one hundred kindergarten places, in the 2020/2021 school year this figure was 84. At district level no shortage of kindergarten places can be observed; however, at local, settlement level the indicator might exceed 100.
Fewer kindergarten children per teacher and per children-group
The number of teachers employed at kindergartens was 31 thousand in the 2020/2021 school year, 2.0% more than in the 2010/2011 school year. While the number of kindergarten children has fallen by 4.6% since the 2010/2011 school year, the average number of children per teacher has improved from 11.1 persons to 10.4 persons, which is also due to the slight increase in the number of teachers. Over the past ten years, the number of children-groups has increased by 3.0%, while the average number of children per children-group decreased by nearly 2 children, to 21.5 children by the 2020/2021 school year. This rate was nearly equal in the case of kindergartens maintained by the government, local governments and a church, while in kindergartens operated by foundations and other organisations the average number of children per children-group remained 18.
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