Tag Archives: Education

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Schools, and Roma

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Slovenia, Schools, and Roma

An article about the fact that Roma drop out of school in Slovenia. According to the article, only 10 to 20 percent of Roma children complete primary school. What is problematic, is what they ascertain as being its cause: Successful Roma who abuse the social system and are role model as they have more money than the others.

They also add that speaking Slovenian is an issue, as most Roma children do not speak it when they arrive in kindergarten.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Brno: “Problematic” school

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Brno: “Problematic” school

It used to be an elite institution where no Roma students attended. However, after merging with a neighboring elementary school, Merhautova Elementary School became a school where most of the students are Roma and, in recent years, Ukrainian. Does this sound like a recipe for disaster? But that did not happen at the Brno elementary school. Children and parents expressed their opinion in a satisfaction survey that “Merhautka” has the best internal climate of all Brno schools.

The proof that integration works.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Slovenia and Roma

For some reason, the Slovenian press published two articles about the international Roma day which happened a while back. In one, a teacher published a book with poems in Romanes and Slovene, unveiled during April 8th celebrations. In the other, Roma children who attend a “regular” kindergarten (to the surprise of the journalist perform for April 8th – with of course lots of stereotypes.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Segregation

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Slovakia and Segregation

Roma children still face entrenched discrimination in education. This is according to a report by Amnesty International and the European Roma Rights Center. The organizations are calling on the government to adopt systemic measures to end segregation in schools as soon as possible. The Ministry of Education responds that it is actively addressing this issue.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

School Segregation in the Czech Republic

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School Segregation in the Czech Republic

The paradox of today’s Czech Republic is that a country that aspired to connect with the liberal West after the fall of communism, tolerates a system of educational segregation that would put to shame even the illiberal regimes it once condemned. According to PAQ Research, there are 130 schools in the Czech Republic that are de facto “only for Roma”, where Roma children make up more than a third of the students. There are still 130 segregated schools in the Czech Republic. A third of Roma children end up in them.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Education, Art, and Roma

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Czechia: Education, Art, and Roma

What is the power of words, culture and art in creating a feeling that one belongs somewhere and can be proud of oneself? This is a question that concerns not only minorities in Czech schools. The way to do this can be social support from the environment and art. For Roma students, it is offered, for example, by the Ara Art organization, which is dedicated to activist culture, or the Kher publishing house, which publishes children’s books on Roma themes. How to ensure that children’s talent and potential do not go to waste?

Roma children make up roughly three percent of all students in Czech schools. However, they are not enrolled evenly. According to PAQ Research data, in 2023 there were approximately 130 segregated schools where Roma made up at least a third of the students.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Roma and Schools

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Slovenia: Roma and Schools

Novo Mesto Mayor Gregor Macedoni hosted Minister of Education Vinko Logaj on a working visit today, with whom they discussed, among other things, the issue of non-attendance at primary school, mostly of Roma, and safety at schools. Logaj stressed the need for joint action by several ministries, “since measures taken by one ministry alone will not be sufficient”.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Workshop on Inclusion

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Czechia: Workshop on Inclusion

The council of Europe organised a workshop on inclusive education for Roma children in the Czech Republic. Nice, but right now, the issue is more the segregation that still revails in aschools in the country.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Lunik IX and Education

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Lunik IX and Education

Michaela Cingeľová, a unique teacher who decided to go to teach at the Ľudmila Podjavorinská Elementary School in Luník IX four years ago. This is one of the most notorious ghettos in Slovakia.

 In addition, she founded a project in her hometown that makes Roma children look forward to going to school on Saturdays.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Roma, and Schools

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Slovenia, Roma, and Schools

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Luka Mesec presented a package of measures to address Roma issues in Novo mesto. Among the measures, a new one will allow  to consider failure to attend primary school as child neglect. The minister said that this can have serious legal consequences. The proposal also envisages the mandatory inclusion of Roma children in kindergarten one year before entering school.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and School Inclusion

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Slovenia and School Inclusion

The Slovene education ministry is planning amendments to the Kindergarten Act, which aims to increase the inclusion of Roma in preschool education.

Now look at the picture used to illustrate this: This is typical of segregated schools, where stereotypes are the norm. Would this happen to other minorities?

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Legislative Package

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Slovenia: Legislative Package

The Slovene Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs Luka Mesec paid a working visit to Novo Mesto Mayor Gregor Macedoni. His ministry is coordinating the preparation of the legislative package to resolve Roma issues. They will try to complete the coordination on Thursday, he said in a press statement. They will then probably have another “intensive round of coordination” with mayors and others involved, and the package could go into public debate sometime by the end of March.

The package of laws is intended to encourage the inclusion of children in kindergartens and schools and improve living conditions.

Let’s see what comes out of it.

Greece News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

Teaching about Roma in Greece and Romania

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Teaching about Roma in Greece and Romania

The representation of people in schools says a lot about their condition. In this regard, that of the Roma raises questions in the Balkan countries: despite some real efforts, school textbooks remain very incomplete and perpetuate false ideas, as in Romania and Greece.

Good article, false history… Roma left earlier than indicated.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Slovenia and Roma

Once a month, children from a Roma centre in Črnomelj, Slovenia, visit the local library. In this case they discussed about friendship and created a fairy tale on that topic.

Whether this is useful, will need to be assessed in a few years, but at least it is a start.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Segregated Schools

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Segregated Schools

The education of children from Roma communities in Slovakia has long been on the fringes of public interest. The Ministry of Education recently announced a pilot project of a national school in the village of Rakúsy, which is to allow Roma children to be educated in their mother tongue. However, this step has sparked a debate about whether it will lead to a deepening of segregation.

Well, for us, this is clear. It is segregation and the results will not be good.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Helping

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Slovenia: Helping

The mission of the civic association Chestnut Horse is the education, support and social development of people with health disabilities, people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and people from marginalized communities (for the last two, read “Roma”). The association also offers educational activities for pedagogical workers working with these groups in primary schools.

Good work and intentions, but a drop in the ocean, unfortunately.

Greece News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

Roma Misrepresentation

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Roma Misrepresentation

An article about the representation of Romain Greece and Romania schoolbooks.

Good intentions, but stating that Roma arrived in the 14th century in Europe is also a misrepresentation …

They would never have had the opportunity to learn Greek …

So good intentions, and total lack of knowledge.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Discrimination

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Slovakia: Discrimination

Michal Sivák, a gifted teacher and Rom has a job in a school in Bratislava. The problem: he can’t find an apartment as his applications are rejected because he is Rom.

He now says he won’t stay in education. What a waste.

Kosovo News Eastern Europe

Kosovo and Roma

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Kosovo and Roma

Sejnur Veshall of the United Roma Party said that in the future Kosovo government, the emphasis should be on the spiritual heritage of the Roma, which he said is deep and deserves a more adequate presentation to the people of Kosovo.

Wishful thinking, unfortunately …

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