Promoting language skills
For children from socially deprived families, learning one or more foreign languages is not always a matter of course. Which is why the Hungarian Csányi Foundation helps promote the language skills of disadvantaged children and youths aged between 10 and 24. The aim is to provide such intense support that these youngsters end up fluent in two foreign languages. To motivate the students in the long term, five-stage competitions are held biannually (middle and end of the year), to test the students’ knowledge. The prize for the ten best competitors: participation in a language crash course in Germany.
Local circumstances
Socially disadvantaged children are not uncommon in Hungary. Hungary’s transition towards a market economy has also had a number of negative side effects, especially for children and families: many have sunk into poverty. Even though the country has caught up and unemployment has fallen significantly, many children are still at risk of living in poverty. The situation is particularly problematic for boys and girls with single parents and ethnic minorities such as the Romani people. Romani children drop out of school more often than other children. And a low level of education also means fewer prospects for the future.