In the framework of the Hungarian government's Carpathian Basin Kindergarten Development Program, 103 new kindergartens have been built and 376 renovated.Continue reading
The opening of a kindergarten and a nursery in Bánffyhunyad, Transylvania, built with Hungarian state support, has stirred up the heat, Cluj24.ro portal reported on Wednesday.
The council of the small town in Cluj county, Romania was convened for an extraordinary meeting on Friday to adopt a decision to put the kindergarten into free use. The decision is essential for the kindergarten to be able to operate within the state education system, with the municipality paying the staff and public costs.
Oana Goga, president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in opposition in Bánffyhunyad, expressed her dissatisfaction with the decision on Facebook.
She said she did not agree that only a Hungarian-language kindergarten and nursery should be allowed in the new building.
She said that PSD councillors would vote for the decision if the new building served all children in the city, regardless of nationality. The Social Democrat politician also made it a condition that the two other kindergartens in the city in the old building be closed, and the children moved to the new kindergarten, which was built with Hungarian state funding.
Búzás Fekete Mária, Bánffyhunyad’s deputy mayor from the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), said that due to illness they had to postpone the extraordinary council meeting scheduled for Friday, so the issue will be discussed at the regular council meeting in August. The deputy mayor added that she hoped that the local coalition formed by the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Hungarian Democratic Alliance of Romania would work.
The new kindergarten, built by the Hungarian language Reformed Church with the support of the Hungarian state, was inaugurated on July 17th. The two-story building, built with HUF 300 million, will house four kindergarten groups and a nursery. Moreover, a foundation stone for a Hungarian school was also laid.
Bánffyhunyad, the capital of Kalotaszeg with a population of 9,300, has a Hungarian population of nearly 30 percent, but there are Hungarian-majority villages in the surrounding area. The 15-member municipal council has six members from PNL, three for the RMDSZ and three for the PSD, two for the Save Romania Alliance (USR), and one independent.
Featured Photo: MTI/Kiss Gábor
