Tag Archives: Education

Bosnien News Osteuropa

Bosnia and Roma

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Romanes, language of Roma was introduced in elementary schools in Tuzla Canton, which thus became the first canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina to systematically contribute to the creation of an educational environment without discrimination and the preservation of the rights of national minorities. Years of lobbying and advocacy have finally borne fruit, say the Roma Association “Euro Rom” Tuzla.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia, Politics, and Roma Education

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Every day there are more schools in the east of Slovakia with up to 50 percent of Roma pupils.  Non-Roma Slovak parents take their children out of school and look for other options for them. They are said to be afraid of infectious diseases, bullying and fights. Why do all solutions fail? An interview with education expert Martin Šmilňák (KDH).

Bosnien News Osteuropa

Bosnia, Roma, and Education

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Roma students do not come to class because they do not have transportation. Children who live in the Konik settlement do not attend classes in six elementary schools in the capital, since the beginning of the school year, on September 4.

News Osteuropa North Macedonia

North Macedonia, Universities, and Roma

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Students from the Roma Association “Romaversitas” started a campaign against the abuse of quotas at the university and a correction in the application of the enrolment policy, after five Roma students who applied to the Faculty of Medicine were rejected from the state and private quota of the faculty.

News Osteuropa Ukraine

Ukraine, Roma, and Education

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In Ukraine, among the legal problems faced by Roma, education stands out as a separate topic. About 20% of the adult population of the Roma community have no education and have never attended school as reported by the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.

As usual, 20% of what …

“Among a number of legal, social, and economic problems, one of the key ones remains the issue of Roma access to education. The educational level of the Roma population in general remains extremely low. According to the latest research by Roma public organizations, about 20% of the adult population do not have any education and have never attended school,” the message reads.

Koratien News Osteuropa

Croatia, Roma, and Education

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On August 29, 2023, the final conference of the Erasmus project “KULko” – “Development of cultural capital of Roma students” was held at Orehovica Elementary School in Orehovica, carried out in partnership by Orehovica Elementary School, Čakovec Public Open University, Lendava Human University and Elementary School Franceta Prešerna in Črenšovka. The project which was funded with 60,000 euros, lasted 18 months, involved 20 classroom teachers from Orehovica Elementary School (where 62 percent of the children are Roma) and the Slovenian Franceta Prešerna Elementary School, and the project produced various analyses and offered practical solutions for teachers, to help Roma children better integrate in school.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary and Analphabets

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The Hungarian Minister Gergely Gulyás who tried to explain the high percentage of 8th graders who are analphabets by laying the blame on Roma is being countered by an economist and education researcher Júlia Varga.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary, Analphabets, and Roma

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Recent statistics (see second article cited here) in Hungary give a dim view of the state of the education system. According to the result, 40% of the 8th grade students are functional analphabets. What is the response of the government (see first article cited here), well, according to Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister office of the Orban government, it is because of the Roma.

He is not a friend of arithmetic… If 40% of the children in Hungary are Roma, it is an interesting trend. Currently, the Roma minority in the country stands at around 10%. And it is true that their education level is low, mostly since in the countryside, they are taught in de-facto segregated schools.

Bulgarien News Osteuropa

Bulgaria, Roma, and Schools

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The Bulgarian government approved funding for 50% of the costs of the 1’000 school mediators. The rest is funded by a project called “Success for you”. These mediators are working with Roma children to try to avoid them dropping out of school too soon.

Bosnien News Osteuropa

Bosnia, Religion, and Education

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The journalist and activist Dalibor Tanić wrote an open letter to Minister Naida Hota-Muminović on the topic of a lesson on religious holidays found in the textbook “My environment” for the third grade of elementary school, authored by Zinaida Livnjak. The lesson cites Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish religious holidays but also adds “Roma” Holidays!

Tanić says rightly that Đurđevdan and Aliđun/Ilindan are not religious holidays, but traditional ones. Roma religion does not exist. Roma, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but throughout Europe are also Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox.

Another case of ignorance on the part of the author and the authorities …

Tschechische Republik News Osteuropa

Czech Republic – Segregation

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Well, no surprise: Roma children are segregated and discriminated against in the Czech school system.

News Osteuropa Serbien

Serbia and Racism

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An article about a young Romni who is graduating from high school and who could not find anyone willing to go with her to the prom. It turns out she was the victim of constant abuse in her class, with people referring to her origins and making disparaging comments such as being given a piece of copper with the words, “Your people are definitely collecting copper, so let’s contribute”.

Several famous people have proposed going with her to the prom ball.

News Osteuropa Serbien

Serbia: Mentors

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The Roma organisation called “Romani asvin” from Kruševac launched a peer mentoring program. Until the end of August, a program called “Mentors on a click” is available to all Roma students at universities. Since the beginning of May, about twenty people interested in getting mentors have contacted us electronically – says Alma Kajtazi from the Association, explaining the advantages of the website www.romaniasvin.org on the Edu info-roma platform.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and Inclusion

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Peter Pollák, a Slovak EU MP stated that when it comes to Roma children, there was not a single minister of education who would give them a chance for the future. The government should come with a clear commitment to drastically revise the current plans in the area of school desegregation.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and Roma Education

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Juraj Čokyna left his job at a newspaper five years ago and went to teach children from settlements in eastern Slovakia for two years. He wrote a book about it, called “Where are the edges?”

Three years later, he is interviewed and states that: “The best are those who went abroad. For Slovak Roma, especially when they live in excluded communities, this is the only chance to experience an environment where they have dignity and the necessary support, for example in schools. Abroad is the only chance for them not to immediately hit the glass ceiling, which they will bang their heads against here in Slovakia very soon.”

Sad.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and School Segregation

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The new Roma mayor of Žehne, near Prešov, Slovakia, wants to radically solve the discrimination of children in kindergarten.

There are purely Roma children in one class, and their non-Roma classmates attend the other class. Other children from the Roma settlement only go to the community centre in the morning.  “So that the children are mixed up. When we have 14 children here, there will be seven and seven there. Also Roma and non-Roma,” explained the mayor.

Bulgarien News Osteuropa

I am a Romni

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Dessi, 23, is one of the first Roma teachers in Bulgaria. The teaser of the Deutche Welle interview states that “only about 3 percent Roma in the country have higher education, only 23 percent have secondary education. Added to this is the fact that Roma girls tend to marry off the record very early – a common practice that is illegal but usually tolerated by the state.”

Well, all stereotypes, and total lack of the most basic math skills: They do not know how many Roma there are in the country. So how can they state exact percentages?

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovenia and Roma

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The President of the Slovene Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, recently held a consultation with representatives of the Roma community, which was also attended by the State Secretary from the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Anton Grizold. The latter is the head of the working group for dealing with the Roma “issue”, which met for the first time almost half a year ago. At the meeting, Grizold said that the task force will tackle the challenges in a two-pronged manner – with an action plan for the most pressing problems and with systemic solutions.

The area of particular concern is the region of Novo Mesto where the police intervene hundreds of times a year in the Roma settlement Žabjak.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovak Segregation

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A podcast on the issue of segregation of Roam children in the Slovak school system for which the country is sued by the European commission.

In Slovakia, 65% of Roma pupils between the ages of 6 and 15 attend schools where all or most of the pupils are Roma, which represents an increase of 5 percentage points compared to 2016. Slovakia is thus the EU member state with the highest rate of segregation of Roma in education, reports the European Commission.

Tschechische Republik News Osteuropa

Czech President and Roma

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On April 13, President Petr Pavel and his wife Eva received a group of Roma students at Prague Castle. The meeting took place as part of this year’s International Roma Day, which fell on April 8.

“What I consider to be one of the biggest dangers of our time – and it is far from only affecting Roma people – is prejudice. They often stem from a lack of information, from stereotypes, from a lack of will to listen to each other and understand each other’s arguments… For me, you represent an opportunity to point out good examples not only towards your community, but above all to the majority community. You are an example of the fact that it is possible to get out of the circle of prejudices,” Pavel said at the beginning of the meeting.

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