Growth
only in Csángó Land The School Foundation strikes a balance of educational
funds
''The number of children receiving
educational funds has declined in Transylvania compared to the previous
year,'' said office manager Zoltán Nagy to the press agency MTI. Zoltán
Nagy works for the School Foundation, which is responsible for distributing
the funds in Romania.
According to the press release, the application for next school year's
grants will be possible after February 11. For the school year 2006-2007,
the Foundation accepted 126.787 applications for educational funds
and grants for learning material with the approval of the Hungarian
Prime Minister's Office.
Mr Zoltán Nagy also said that 129.214 pupils were supported two years
ago. The decline - which is primarily due to demographic changes -
was mainly registered in the diaspora counties. A bigger decrease
was recorded in the counties of Szeben (Sibiu), Máramaros (Maramureş),
Fehér (Alba) and Beszterce-Naszód (Bistriţa-Năsăud).
''After the first announcement four years ago the number of applicants
increased 11 percent. The reason was probably that more people heard
about the possibility after one year. In the following two years though,
the number of applicants declined. We think that this trend will continue,"
the office manager said.
Bákó (Bacău) County (Csángó Land) is considered to be a positive example
within Romania. In the second year of the program the number of applicants
increased about 60 percent, a growth of 25 percent was registered
even in the school year 2006-2007. There is a reason for that: More
and more Csángó children are taking part in the voluntary Hungarian
education.
