national populism and slovak – hungarian relations in - MEK

Magyars and Slovaks in Southern Slovakia...Most Slovaks do not complain about opportunities to use Slovak language onethnically mixed territories, quite the contrary; according to a survey carriedout in 2007, six in seven of them (86%) expressed satisfaction regardingopportunities to use Slovak in official contact while seven in nine of them(78%) were satisfied with opportunities to be educated in their mother tongue.The evaluation of opportunities to be educated in respondents’ nativelanguage in their district of residence clearly indicates that most Slovaksand ethnic Hungarians are satisfied with the current status quo and thatSlovaks are slightly more satisfied than ethnic Hungarians. According toethnic Hungarians, there is no difference in opportunities to receive educationin Slovak and in Hungarian from the viewpoint of particular types ofeducational establishments; the only exception is the insufficient number ofsecondary schools where Hungarian is the language of instruction.According to Slovaks, opportunities to study in Slovak are better than inHungarian (please see Graph 9).Graph 9Respondents’ satisfaction with opportunities to study in native language inthe district of residenceSlovakkindergartensSlovak primaryschoolsSlovaksecondaryschoolsHungariankindergartensHungarianprimary schoolsHungariansecondaryschools0 20 40 60 80 100737771758291918481878592SlovaksEthnic HungariansNational Populism and Slovak – Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 – 2009. Forum Minority Research Institute Šamorín – Somorja, 2009177