Ever since its establishment, the Soros Foundation has put
particular efforts into supporting the Hungarian public education system, and in the last
four years it has provided 20 million dollars in assistance under the Public Education
Development Programme.
The results prove that the Public Education Development
Programme has launched fundamental changes in Hungarian school education, having a
motivating effect on thousands of teachers and reaching tens of thousands of young people.
I has involved initiatives such as the school library programme, linking school libraries
into the world network, the visual education attitude-changing programme, the small-region
educational cooperation programme, and the forest school programme bringing together local
authorities, local communities and schools. The enormous driving effect of the initiatives
is proved by the fact that the educational authorities have taken over a large part of the
programmes (such as the Sulinet programme), putting them on a national footing, and
providing funds for their continuation an order of
magnitude higher than the Soros Foundation's grants.
The Public Education
Development Programme
consisted of 22 programmes, each relatively autonomous but connected to and complementing
each other by numerous routes. The programmes partly pursued standalone development
objectives (like publication of textbooks or grants for professional organisations). Each
programme either set out to support existing initiatives in the Hungarian public education
system, supplementing them with new elements (like Education for Democracy) or set
entirely new objectives (like the Education and Openness Programme).
To round off the programme, which finishes at the end of academic year
1998/99, the Foundation is holding a whole-day End of Programme, End of Term Festival, in
which the institutions, schools, organisations, teachers and students groups that received
support display by presentation of their work the diversity of the Public Education
Development Programme and its aggregate results and experience.
The main event of the Festival is the Teaching Methods Fair
closing the Public Education Development Programme. At the Fair, teachers will have the
opportunity to access in a comprehensive, informal way, and most importantly, directly,
information on the background, operation, results and experiences of teaching initiatives
carried out with help from the Foundation.
Exhibiting institutions, schools, civil
organisations, book publishers, educational institutions, and teachers groups will set up
stands continuously staffed by professionals throughout the day of the Festival, providing
information to visiting teachers and students. As well as presenting their work, the
exhibitors will bring photo-displays, videos, films, educational technology, teaching
materials, textbooks to their stands, host presentations and performances by children and
students and hold discussion forums. As befits a fair, there will also be opportunities to
purchase the exhibited books, methodological materials, products and services.
In parallel with the fair, the Foundation is holding an all-day, cultural
programme involving the best of the youth and children's groups, theatrical performers and
dance troupes which received support under the Public Education Development Programme.
Participants in the cultural programme:
Alba Regia Dance Group, Székesfehérvár, Angyalföld Wild Flower and Wild Rose Groups,
Budapest, Budapest Youth Guitar Orchestra, Budapest, Csinnadratta Percussion Group,
Budapest, Garabonciás Historical Children's Group, Budapest, Kolibri Theatre, Budapest,
Creative Movement Studio, Budapest, Hungarian College of Dance Arts, Budapest, Other
Theatre, Budapest,
Tatabánya Student Musicians-Society, Tatabánya, Music School, Pomáz. |
