Odorheiu Secuiesc Boarding School, Set for Renovation with Nearly EUR 4 M from Hungarian State Funds

By Romania Journal Last updated Dec 19, 2023

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Two buildings of the Tamasi Aron high school in Odorheiu Secuiesc, where a wall collapsed last night killing a teen boy and injuring another 3 teen girls, were renovated in the last year with the help of funds from the Budapest government, and the boarding school was to be rehabilitated next year with the same source of funding, according to local media.

A student, a 18yo boy died after the wall collapse, while other three girls were injured. A 17-year-old girl is in critical condition at the Emergency Hospital in Târgu-Mureş, another was operated on in Odorheiu Secuiesc, and the third injured person was in a state of shock

The “Tamási Áron” Theoretical High School in Odorheiu Secuiesc, formerly the Roman Catholic High School, was built between 1909 and 1910. The building – located near the Roman Catholic Church of St. Nicholas in Odorheiu Secuiesc – is a historical monument. The boarding school was also built in 1910.

The Szekelyhon portal wrote the day before a part of the boarding school building of the Tamasi Aron high school in Odorheiu Secuiesc collapsed on four teenagers that the Hungarian state would finance the rehabilitation of the building.

Moreover, two buildings where high school students study were renovated with funds from Hungary. The inauguration of the two school buildings, which are owned by the Roman Catholic Church, took place at the beginning of the year, according to Transilvaniei News.

Odorheiu Secuiesc City Hall pays over 300,000 lei in rent annually, according to news.ro.

Two buildings of the Tamasi Aron high school, renovated with money from the Hungarian government

The Tamasi Aron High School in Odorheiu Secuiesc was founded by the Jesuit order in 1593. The main building, one of the most important Art Nouveau monuments in the Secuiesc Land, was built in 1910 as part of a cooperation between the Hungarian state and the Roman Catholic Church.

The renovation of the building began in 2018 with a support of 1.5 billion forints (3.75 million euros) from the Hungarian state, with the works being completed in 2020.

Last year, the Budapest government invested another 720 million forints (1.8 million euros) to complete the renovation of the annex building that houses the primary classes and to renovate the boarding school.

According to Szekelyhon, the rehabilitation work of the home was scheduled to start in 2024, as stated by Miklós Soltész, State Secretary responsible for relations with religions and minorities in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Hungary.

The director of the high school, György Laczkó, said that some work started in the courtyard of the boarding school because it was not connected to the sewage system and rainwater had nowhere to drain, and it remained in the foundation of the building.

“Basically, we already see water coming in through the windows of the dining room during heavy rains,” he said, stressing the seriousness of the situation. György Laczkó also said that the fact that the sewer network was built under the building had caused them difficulties in recent years.

According to a document signed in 2003 by the Minister of Administration and Interior, Ioan Rus, the Tamasi Aron high school in Odorheiu Secuiesc received in 2002 a funding of 1.7 billion old lei for consolidation and rehabilitation.

Zörgő Noémi, the spokesperson of the Odorheiu Secuiesc City Hall, confirmed that work was underway at the boarding school. “Now a work had been authorized in the courtyard of the building to connect the boarding school’s sewage system to the city’s network,” said the representative of the City Hall.

The head of the Harghita School Inspectorate, Demeter Levente, mentioned that 97 children from several school units in the locality were accommodated in the boarding school, and some of those who were in the building at the time the wall was breached managed to self-evacuate. “The building, from a seismic point of view, was unframed. This school has three buildings, the property of the Catholic Church, the Alba-Iulia Archdiocese, it is rented by the City Hall, the rent ends next year. There were more children in the boarding school, but in this part there were more, but some managed to run away from the rooms. But there were few, anyway, because it was during their free time, from 5:00 p.m. the boarding school activities started. If it happened at 5:00 p.m. it was worse or if it happened during the night, when all the children were, theoretically, in boarding school. 97 children are accommodated in the boarding school, it is quite a large boarding school and it also accommodates children from several schools, not only from their own school’, said Demeter Levente.

He does not exclude the possibility that the incident was caused by the works to connect the building to the city’s sewage network. “What I know is that all the works were authorized, this was verified, so the ditch was not for consolidation, it was for drainage, (…) probably these works caused, but they had authorization, they had everything”, said the general school inspector.

Despite it was an old building, the building was not included in the category of buildings with seismic risk.

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