{"id":1587,"date":"2014-07-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/16-07-2014-stereotypes-illiteracy-among-rroma\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:48:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:48:15","slug":"16-07-2014-stereotypes-illiteracy-among-rroma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/16-07-2014-stereotypes-illiteracy-among-rroma\/","title":{"rendered":"16.07.2014 Stereotypes: illiteracy among Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michel (2014) informs \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabout the work of the Hamburg counselling centre Karola. Karola has set itself \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe task to help needy women and girls from immigrant families. This has \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresulted in a focus on Romnja, who need support when being in contact with the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthorities or when learning how to read and write. Michel puts the focus on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe language courses, which is an interesting, but also very prejudiced aspect. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAgain and again we read in articles that Rroma can not read and write, and that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthis illiteracy is part of their culture. However, it is rather a phenomenon of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texclusion, poverty and lack of education that affects only part of the Rroma. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMany can read and write. Michel refers to the study of the organization Romnokher: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cThere are no official figures on how \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmany Roma are illiterate in Germany. A representative study of the organization \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRomnokher of 2011, on the educational situation of Sinti and Roma, comes to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconclusion that 18 percent of the 26-to-50-year-olds have never been to school. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t44 percent of them visited a school, but did not graduate. For the younger \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgeneration, the level of education is higher: Nine percent of the to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t25-year-olds did not attend school. Still, obstacles remain \u2013 and the worse the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teducation of the parents, the more difficult it is for their children in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tschool.\u201d <\/em>The study interviewed 275 Rroma from West Germany about their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teducational situation, belonging to three different generations. Whether this sampling \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis sufficient for a reliable assessment of the education of Rroma in Germany \u2013 the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma Foundation currently assumes 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma in Germany \u2013 is not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twithout doubt, because the sample is very small (see Strauss 2011). Karola\u2019s \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegration assistance, described by Michel, is very positive. However, one has \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto be cautious when identifying individual histories as representative for all \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma, and therefore to treat them as cultural traits. If a Rromni reports that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshe did not go to school because her parents were afraid that she might have a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trelationship with a boy, this must be seen as individual experience and not as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta cultural characteristic. The same goes for Romnja, for whom it was free to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdecide whether they wanted to go to school or did not go because of distrust \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttowards public institutions. Many Rroma can read and write. As Michel herself \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstates, there is no reliable data on the educational situation of the Rroma in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGermany.<\/p>\n