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Hungarian students celebrate end of coronavirus-hit school year
Europe;Hungary
02:17

Middle school and secondary students only returned to their classrooms last month and already they're heading home again, this time for the summer holidays. 

At Budapest's Hungarian Chinese bilingual school celebration was in the air as the middle school students graduated after months of online learning. Carrying flowers and wearing traditional bags to hold keepsakes from their time together, classmates entered the ceremony hands on each other's shoulders. 

It's a closeness they've been denied the majority of the academic year, forced to learn from home during lockdown restrictions that lasted from November 2020 to May.

The majority of the graduating class will continue their secondary education at the same school but it was an important milestone to mark, after the Hungarian government allowed outdoor graduations to take place. 

"We are proud of our students and I am proud of my colleagues because we have had a very difficult year behind us - everyone did well, some of our colleagues also got ill, but they came back and the school year went well," headmistress Zsuzsanna Erdelyi told CGTN.

In order to move into the secondary school, students had to sit a number of entrance exams. They say studying and completing the exams from home was the biggest challenge. 

"I think the hardest was the online exams and this whole entrance exams shenanigans because that was really, really hard," said Benedek Molnar.

The students are in the age group that's just become eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. The Hungarian government announced last week parents can register their children aged 12-15 for a Pfizer vaccine if they wish. While the government has left the choice up to parents, public health experts have urged families to get vaccinated before students are back in the classroom in September. 

Already some of the graduating class are registered, their headmistress hoping vaccination will stop any future shutdowns. 

"Some of our secondary school pupils have already had the vaccination and now that it is available to younger pupils, I hope that parents will take advantage of it and that pupils will come to school next year protected," she said. 

Luca Panna Cserhati told CGTN she's looking forward to starting secondary without restrictions or online learning but first she's ready for some time off.  

"I'm looking forward to the summer holiday because we want to travel and have a break," she said. The new academic year starts again in Hungary at the beginning of September.

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