Budapest Protests Over School Director's Dismissal

Thousands of students, teachers, and parents protested in Budapest against the dismissal of a school director who criticized a government decision to ban phones in schools.

They demanded the resignation of the interior minister who dismissed the director of Madach Imre High School.

The move has reignited simmering tensions between nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in power continuously since 2010, and teachers, who have protested over poor working conditions in the past two years.

On the first day of the school year, thousands packed the square at the headquarters of the Interior Ministry, which has supervised public education since 2022.

A director at the school for 24 years, Csaba Meszaros was fired for defying a new government decree banning mobile phones and smart devices in classrooms. The decree says students must hand in their phones until the end of the school day, citing distractions as the reason.

"I think it was only about setting a precedent. A precedent to show that those who go the opposite way, those who think that they can do differently than what we say, will end up like this," said one organizer of the protest, Adam Farkas.

Meszaros and his staff had announced they would continue using phones for digital teaching but would enforce stricter usage policies.

The school maintains it acted within the decree's framework.

The main teachers’ union PDSZ criticized the regulation — dubbed “smartphone ban” by some media — as “poorly thought out” and “unrealistic”, urging the government to let schools come up with their own solutions.

In response to rising concerns about mobile phone use, Hungary joined other EU countries regulating their use. France is testing a ban for students under 15, while Greece requires phones to be kept in bags during lessons starting this school year.