Hungary is a strong country now, financially, as far as its pride is concerned, and also in its national awareness, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén stated in Szatmárnémeti in Romania on Thursday at the inauguration of the St. Aloysius Convent School refurbished from grants provided by the Hungarian Government.
Zsolt Semjén said at the inauguration of the Catholic boarding school refurbished from an allocation of HUF 94 million that Hungary and the Hungarian State do not only feel, but as is laid down in the new Fundamental Law, also bear responsibility for every Hungarian wherever they may live in the world. In the present case, the grants provided for the convent school are not „some favour or good deed”, but this is the duty of the Hungarian State, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.
The Hungarian State is the State of every Hungarian, Mr Semjén laid down in his speech. As he said, he does not like the terms ‘Hungarian from beyond the borders’ or ‘Hungarian from abroad’ because, as he said, every Hungarian belongs to the same nation, and the State equally supports every Hungarian, whether they live in Szatmár County or in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County.
Naturally, upon the awarding of financial grants, for instance, the technical conditions are different in the case of a school in Hungary or a school in Szatmárnémeti. However, the duty of the State is the same in the case of both institutions, Mr Semjén said. In his speech he took the view that history testifies to the „superiority” of church schools. In the Carpathian Basin there were church schools before state schools, and consequently, the former institutions practically see through Hungarian history. Despite this, during socialism, only some half a dozen church schools were allowed to operate in Hungary, and the number of children studying in these institutions was just a fraction of students studying in state schools.
The change of regime showed, however, that there are a remarkably large number of people „in the power positions” of life – politics, the economy, sciences and arts – who once studied at the Benedictines, the Piarists, the Franciscans and later the Jesuits, Mr Semjén said, remarking that even during the years of oppression, the knowledge passed on by church institutions and their spiritual staying power provided a special intellectual and spiritual air for those studying there.
The convent school named after Jesuit monk St. Aloysius which forms part of the Hám János Roman Catholic Lyceum of Theology was built in 1997, and provided boarding in its first school year for 120 students. As part of the renovation works, the facade of the boarding school with accommodation for 108 students at present has been fully refurbished, the equipment used in the kitchen has been modernised, the corridors and interior spaces have been renovated, the flooring in the rooms as well as the exterior doors and windows have been replaced, and new furniture has been procured for the rooms.
The refurbished building was blessed by Roman Catholic Bishop Jenő Schönberger. The event was also attended by István Grezsa, Government Commissioner responsible for the government-level coordination of the cooperation and coordinated development tasks of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County and Transcarpathia at the Prime Minister’s Office, Gábor Kereskényi, RMDSZ Mayor of Szatmárnémeti, Csaba Pataki, President of the Szatmár County Council, and representatives of the county school inspectorate.
(MTI)
