No National Policy without Children and Young Adults

The State Secretary with 5th graders from Széchenyi István Primary School of Bonyhád in the Parliament

The future of national politics cannot be imagined without children and young adults, Árpád János Potápi said in Budapest on Monday.

At the closing conference of the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Program and the Petőfi Sándor Program, the Minister of State for National Policy of the Prime Minister’s Office stressed that the goal of national policy is national unification in the Carpathian Basin and in the diaspora.

Now we can talk about a united Carpathian Basin in the fields of education, culture, media, sport, and national policy programs, said Árpád János Potápi, summing up the results of the conference.

He added that it was good to see the experience and feeling of national belonging growing stronger among young adults and children.

The future of national policy cannot be imagined without young people and children,

he stressed. He added that the future of the policy was not only in the hands of young adults and youth, but also in the hands of people who are directly involved in programs aimed at Hungarian communities, such as the two scholarship programs named above.

He recalled that the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Program was launched in 2013, with 47 scholarship holders and 661 participants so far. The Petőfi Sándor Program, launched in 2015, to embrace Hungarians scattered in the diaspora, has involved 308 people, he said.

He also pointed out that some of the participants had taken part in both programs several times. After Covid, he said, it was decided that there would be no restriction on applications, so that those who had been involved twice or three times would no longer have to wait several years to reapply.

Potápi expressed hope that as many of the current scholarship holders as possible would reapply for the nine-month programs in the Northern Hemisphere.

According to his assessment, this year’s program was successful, and he hoped that

everyone who took part gained at least as much experience, Hungarian awareness ,and patriotism during their time as they had given to others.

At the event, the Minister of State presented certificates to the scholarship holders who had served in the diaspora.

Within the framework of the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Program and the Petőfi Sándor Program, the State Secretariat for National Policy of the Prime Minister’s Office sends scholarship holders to Hungarian communities living in diasporas and in the Carpathian Basin. The scholarship holders’ task is to help Hungarians living far from their motherland – often second or third generation Hungarians in the case of the diaspora – to preserve the Hungarian language, culture, and identity and to nurture their national roots through their community organizing work.

Via MTI; Featured image: Facebook/Pótápi Árpád János