BUDAPEST, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of students demonstrated in Budapest on Friday against the government to modernize education near the Parliament.
"The current system is too much focused on blind memorization and repetition of old stuff with ancient methods, this way we won't be able to compete with other people from other countries," 19-year-old Andras told Xinhua.
"We must read books that have very little to say to us, and we don't even have IT teachers since several months," said his younger brother.
The protest, which ended peacefully, has been organized on Facebook, and started with an appeal to skip school on Friday and go the demonstration in the evening.
"Let's get together for a fairer, more modern, student-centered education system in which students will not be exhausted zombies. Let us meet together at the Parliament to show: Hungarian students are a big community who are standing up for a better education in a better future for everyone," organizers said Facebook.
"A fair, democratic and modern education for all students," said the leaflet distributed on site, demanding freedom in the choice of textbooks, and a decrease of the compulsory hours.
Students also blamed the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban to have enabled hundred of thousands of young Hungarians flee the country in search for better life in Western Europe, many of them having left already after high school.
