The bill would remove the statutory exemption protecting classes in minority-language basic schools from minimum average class-size requirements. It would also raise the general thresholds from 13 to 15 pupils in the lower stage and from 15 to 18 in the upper stage. A maintaining authority could reduce these thresholds by three pupils, but that would depend on a decision and would not restore the existing general exemption.
Our preliminary assessment estimates that 46% of Hungarian-language schools could be at risk under the new requirements, compared with 19% of Slovak-language schools. The affected Hungarian schools educate approximately 21% of pupils in the Hungarian school network. These figures describe potential exposure, not a forecast of certain closures; derogations, transitional provisions and individual decisions affect the outcome.
For the Hungarian community, a local school is an institution through which language, identity and community life pass from one generation to the next. If it closes, a family may have to choose between a lengthy daily journey and a nearby Slovak-language school. A right that can be exercised only at an impractical distance is a right weakened in everyday life.
The government’s answer cannot simply be that Slovak-language schools are affected too. Equal treatment requires attention to unequal consequences. The proposed withdrawal of protection would leave a minority school network facing a substantially greater risk. The government must demonstrate, with evidence, why less harmful alternatives cannot meet its objectives.
Hungarians in Slovakia remember the Mečiar years, when democratic backsliding accompanied pressure on Hungarian-language education. Fico’s government must not revive that pattern by weakening minority institutions under the language of modernisation. All Slovak MPs, across party lines, have a responsibility to protect citizens’ access to education in their own language.
Article 34 of the Slovak Constitution protects minority-language education under conditions laid down by law. Slovakia is also bound by the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In its Sixth Opinion, published on 15 October 2026, the Framework Convention’s Advisory Committee stresses that minority-language education must remain effectively available, with undue barriers removed. Removing a safeguard now would move in the wrong direction.
EU law also requires scrutiny. Directive 2000/43/EC prohibits indirect ethnic discrimination in education. A formally neutral rule may breach that prohibition if it particularly disadvantages an ethnic group and lacks objective justification through appropriate and necessary means. We seek an evidence-based assessment of that risk. In its resolution of 20 May 2026 on the rule of law in Slovakia, the European Parliament stressed that minority-rights protection is “a core component of the rule of law and democratic governance”.
Hungarian Alliance calls for protective amendments that retain enforceable minority safeguards and provide sustainable, differentiated funding. Any reorganisation impairing access should require a published minority-impact assessment, meaningful consultation and a genuinely accessible alternative in the same teaching language. Cooperation between schools and shared services should improve quality while preserving local provision wherever feasible.
We call on the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Europe to examine the proposal before preventable harm becomes entrenched. The Hungarian community in Slovakia must not be made to pay for “optimisation” with the institutions that sustain its future.