A new study recently published by the ‘Open Society Justice Initiative’ criticizes the systematic disadvantage of Rroma children in Czech Republic’s public school system. The study emanates from the ‘D.H. and Others versus Czech Republic’ case: In 1999 18 Rroma children from Ostrava sued the Czech school system for systematic discrimination before the European Court of Human Rights. As a result, eight years later, the court declared the suit legitimate, demanding from the Czech state increased actions to stop the discrimination of Rroma children in the public school system. According to the publication, most Rroma children in the Czech Republic end up in inadequate, third-rate schools, making it very difficult for them to acquire advanced job opportunities and therefore inhibiting social advancement.
The children that were part of the ‘D.H. and Others versus Czech Republic’ case have grown up and look back to what has changed since the lawsuit was filed. Most of them come to a pessimistic conclusion, stating that despite some official statements and renaming of schools, the exclusion of Rroma children from public schooling remains an everyday practice. Several interview partners stated that discrimination came not as much from the other children attending the school but from teachers systematically judging and treating Rroma children badly. One method used to downgrade Rroma children is to declare them psychologically retarded. According to the report, this is a common way to exclude them from the public school system and therefore from social advancement. The former Commissioner for Human Rights of the European Union, Thomas Hammarberg, stated in his report «Human Rights of Roma and Travelers in Europe»: “with thousands of Roma children effectively excluded from the mainstream education system in the Czech Republic and condemned to a future as second class citizens every year… it is now time to speed up the implementation of the inclusive education agenda” (Open Society Justice Initiative 2012).
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