As part of his two-day tour of the Republic of Hungary, the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, today visited the Serb primary and secondary schools in Budapest.

The school’s headmistress, Katica Rus, acquainted Mr Markovic with the current issues facing the community, as well as with the curriculum and work of the kindergarten and primary and secondary schools. She expressed her gratitude for the support provided by Mr Markovic for over ten years, both individually and in his capacity as National Assembly Chairman, to students of the Budapest Serb School.

In the presence of their teachers and parents, the students gave a special recital to mark Mr Markovic’s visit, who asked them for permission – which was given – to represent them in his next day’s speech to the Hungarian Parliament.

In his visit to schoolrooms used by the students and teachers, Markovic had the chance to learn about working conditions and teaching aids used, as well as about the number of Serbian textbooks sent to the school by Serbia’s Textbook Publishing Agency, the Ministry of Education, and the Office of the Chairman of the National Assembly, so that Serb children in Hungary could follow the same curricula as their peers in Serbia.

The Budapest High School took this opportunity to publish a special edition of its paper, Gimnazijalac (‘The Secondary School Student’), devoted to the Tolerance Camp, which has been organised for two years running jointly by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the Hungarian Parliament.

During the evening, Mr Markovic held wide-ranging talks with leaders of the Serb Autonomous Community in Hungary and told them about the fact that the proposed new Constitution, adopted by the National Assembly, included care for Serbs living outside the ‘mother country’ as one of the fundamental principles.