Tag Archives: Segregation

Italy News Western Europe

Italy and Segregated Roma Camps

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Italy and Segregated Roma Camps

Following the intervention of Roma activists and the European Roma Rights Center, the Calabria region had to change the plan that envisaged the construction of segregated housing for Roma families with European money. At their instigation, the European Commission began to look into the case and the project was modified – instead of a new ghetto, Roma families are to be integrated into regular municipal housing. However, activists warn that the new version of the plan still has serious shortcomings.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Special Schools

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Slovakia: Special Schools

Public Defender of Rights (VOP) Róbert Dobrovodský considers the incorrect placement of children from marginalized Roma communities in the special education system to be an extremely serious violation of the right to education. According to him, this has irreversible negative consequences for their future, as well as negative consequences for society as a whole. The Ombudsman pointed this out in connection with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Salay v. the Slovak Republic, in which it found a violation of the right to education and the prohibition of discrimination against a pupil of Roma origin by his placement in a special class for children with mild mental disabilities.

Unfortunately, placing Roma children in special schools happens still too often.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Segregated Schools

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Slovakia and Segregated Schools

An article about the systemic racism against Roma in Slovakia, especially in the school system and on court cases against it, the latest one being from a school in an excluded Roma community in the village of Stráne pod Tatrami.

The article also says that the current prime minister Robert Fico approved Milan Mazurek’s statements about “gypsy anti-social groups” and “zoological gardens”, to which he compared the Roma school, in 2019. He was convicted for his words, but still continues.

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 Slovakia

Slovakia: Survey on Roma

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Slovakia: Survey on Roma

The Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities commissioned a survey on the attitudes of the Slovak Population towards Roma.
Well, the results are not surprising: 74% of the respondents stated that they would not rent a flat to Roma; 82% think that the social system favours Roma.

Bad.

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 Slovakia

Slovakia: Plenipotentiary

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Slovakia: Plenipotentiary

According to Romano Forum, the current Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities, Alexander Daško,  is failing to prevent discrimination in the policies of other ministries.

The fourth government of Robert Fico is marked by a frontal attack on civil society and the weakening of non-governmental organizations. This political trend is also being copied by the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government for Roma Communities under the leadership of Alexander Daško, who is the nominee of the Smer-SD party.

After the elections, the Office suspended the organization of the Congress of Young Roma, which was founded by Daško’s predecessor Ján Hero. It was a format that allowed young university students from excluded communities to collaborate on proposals for inclusive policies and the fight against poverty.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: School Segregation

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Czechia: School Segregation

The Czech Republic has been struggling with the problem of segregation of Roma children in education for more than fifteen years. The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of D. H. and others v. the Czech Republic from 2007 clearly identified the practice at that time as discriminatory. Instead of accepting this challenge as an opportunity for change, we resorted to writing strategies, plans and reports that remained only on paper. Despite tens of millions of crowns invested in various action plans, the reality is still the same.

Children from Roma families often find themselves in segregated schools that offer them a lower quality education. The consequences are devastating – these children remain trapped in a cycle of poverty and social exclusion, while society loses their potential. Moreover, segregation is not just a problem in primary schools. This phenomenon also continues in secondary schools, where the socio-economic background of families and place of residence play a major role.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, Schools, and Roma

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Bulgaria, Schools, and Roma

Dimitrinka Georgieva, the principal of the “Lyuben Karavelov” school in the Varna Asparuhovo district in Bulgaria was awarded in the “Person of the Year” competition of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee in the Inspiration category.

There are 400 children at the “Lyuben Karavelov” school at the moment. Of these, 121 are children from Ukraine from preparatory classes to grade 11. Of the remaining less than 280 children, about 90 percent are students of Roma and Turkish origin, and the rest are Bulgarians.

Sounds like a segregated school …

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Roma Strategy

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Slovakia: Roma Strategy

The non-legislative document Action Plans for the Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of Roma by 2030 for the years 2025-2027 was submitted to the interdepartmental commentary procedure. The strategy highlights a set of starting points and goals that aim to stop the segregation of Roma communities, a significant positive turn in the social inclusion of Roma, non-discrimination, changing attitudes and improving coexistence.

But it also pushes for de-facto segregated schools by promoting teaching in Romanes.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Education of Roma

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Slovakia and Education of Roma

Vlado Rafael, the Head of eduRoma MGO says Roma children can also study to become psychologists in Britain. Here they end up in special schools.

The article addresses the largest misinformation about Roma and education currently circulating in Slovakia: What is the status of the lawsuit filed against Slovakia by the European Commission for the segregation of Roma children in education, what impact does their placement in special schools for students with mild mental disabilities, where up to 70-80 percent of them end up, have on the future of Roma, why, according to non-governmental organizations, the amendment to the Education Act will further exacerbate the problem, and how Roma students are treated differently in Great Britain, where many of them successfully graduate from universities.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Segregated Schools

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Slovakia and Segregated Schools

The elementary school on Krčméryho Street in Nitra is now attended exclusively by Roma children, but several Ukrainian students have also joined. Years ago, it was a mixed school, but parents of non-Roma children withdrew their children. A view of what this means first hand

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and School Segregation

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Slovakia and School Segregation

Slovakia has been condemned by the EU for its de-facto school segregation of Roma children. The latest measures on de-segregation of schools voted by the Slovak parliament are being criticised by the association EduRoma. The parliament decided to ban two-shifts operations in schools and to teach Romanes in classes. EduRoma says that “In the name of language education, you will be able to officially separate those children from other children. You can segregate them in the name of language education, no one will tell you anything about it.”

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Counting Roma Children

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Czechia: Counting Roma Children

Recent reports in the media about the collection of an estimate of the number of Roma children in primary schools have caused strong reactions and much confusion. This process, which has been running regularly since 2015, aims to monitor how the situation of Roma children in Czech education is developing and whether progress is being made in reducing segregation. The collection of data is a response to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights and the pressure of the European Commission, which drew the Czech Republic’s attention to the discriminatory practice against Roma children. This procedure is not a novelty.

Nevertheless, the criteria for saying who is Rom are dubious …

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: School Segregation

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Czechia: School Segregation

The Czech Republic had ten years to take action against the segregation of Roma children in schools. However, according to the European Commission, the situation has not improved, so it called on Czechia again in October to rectify it.

Although there are fifteen primary schools in Kladno in central Bohemia, students from poor, predominantly Roma families attend only two of them, with exceptions. The elementary school in Pařížská Street in the Kročehlava housing estate, which used to be special, and the one in Školská Street in Starý Kročehlavy. The results of the students there and the level of education they receive here are very different from the other “basics” in Kladno.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Segregated Schools

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Czechia and Segregated Schools

The Ministry of Regional Development joined the Memorandum on Cooperation in Ending Ethnic Segregation in Education, which was signed in the spring of this year by representatives of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the National Pedagogical Institute and research organization PAQ Research. This initiative is essential for improving the conditions of Roma pupils in so-called segregated schools so that all children get equal access to education. The memorandum includes a commitment to support school founders and principals in their efforts to improve the quality of education for all children.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Roma Schoolchildren

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Czechia and Roma Schoolchildren

School principals in Czechia received detailed instructions from government representative Lucie Fuková on how to proceed when determining the Roma origin of children. Some have been reluctant to count the Roma until now. By getting their numbers, the state aims to prevent segregation. Many of them do not agree with this census because they find it uncomfortable to proceed in this way.

The criteria are scary: These include, for example, appearance. If the child is perceived as Roma, the directors can infer his Roma origin. The same applies if one of the parents or relatives in the direct line is Romani, the child has a typical Romani name or surname, or the pupil or family directly speaks the Romani language or an ethnolect (a language variant associated with a specific ethnic minority).

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: The Roma School

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Slovakia: The Roma School

Two articles in the Slovak press about this new initiative of a school where teaching will be done in Romanes. This is presented a good idea in Slovakia and esopecially so by the government. The result will be a segregated school whose standards will be rock-bottom.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Romani School

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Slovakia: Romani School

According to the articles, many children from the Podtatra  Roma community speak exclusively Romanes at home. When they start school, they may therefore have a problem with understanding the Slovak language. This is already a false premise, Roma are dual language speakers from early on.

The pilot project in the village of Rakúsy aims to improve this situation thanks to the first national school, where teaching will also be in the Romani language. In the village, 74 percent of the over 2,000 inhabitants claim to be Roma. The most used language is Romanes.

Well, this will result in a segegrated school, whose standards will drop, and will contribute to further marginalisation.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: The Wall

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25 years ago, On October 25th, in the Czech town of Úští nad Labem, the local government built a fence made of prefabricated parts, which separated the Roma neighbourhood from the rest.

The structure, 1.8 meters high and 60 meters long, was removed after six weeks under pressure from the government and after protests by Czech and foreign human rights defenders, who saw it as a manifestation of racism.

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