[Hungary] The Road to Happiness: Ethical School Program

We live in a world in which the rate of immorality and crimes keeps growing. People are unable to solve their problems so they turn to alcohol and drugs. The young don't have a vision of their future, they don't have aims and they wait for happiness from drugs. These problems are not only far from us, somewhere in the world, but right here in Hungary as well.  - az Út a Boldogsághoz, Magyarország [The Road to Happiness Organization, Hungary]

The Road to Happiness program reaches out to specific social groups, to eliminate disinterest, isolation and lack of vision. Moreover, it contributes to the decrease of crime, helps people achieve success, better quality of life and a path to healthy self-esteem.

The leaders of the movement stated the following key points among their goals:

• creating a society based on honesty and integrity
• creating a world where people can achieve their dreams and be happy
• emphasizing respect, consideration and kindness as values
• suppression of oppression, dishonesty, crime and corruption

In order to achieve these goals, a number of programs have been created for numerous social groups:

• for kindergartens, schools, teachers and children to stop aggression and establish cooperation and respect among children.
• for families to develop a successful, permanent, affectionate bond amongst parents and between parents and children.
• for companies to create an effective team of colleagues based on ethics
• for communities to emphasize basic moral values in their everyday and in social life

Furthermore the 'Ethical school' program promises such results as the growth of empathy and tolerance among children. This is of major importance as the root of aggression at school is often a lack of tolerance. With patience and acceptance towards each other and themselves, children won't want to change each other by any means, or be isolated or prove themselves right by shouting and physical aggression. The feeling of victory and joy in defeating others would also occur less among children. In these schools, children from all walks of life would be able to work together. Another crucial point of the program is for children to learn how to make themselves more acceptable as well, and not just accepting others. The program is absolutely free of charge for schools.