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by qika PR
Discrimination of Romani people is a widespread phenomenon throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Deriving from social and cultural embedded prejudices, it is manifested not only in day-to-day incidents, but also in organized forms. Segregation is one of the most practiced organized forms of discrimination. In Central and Eastern Europe, Romani children are segregated in remedial special schools, which are schools for children with development and learning disabilities.
In these schools Romani children are subjected to a curriculum, which is inferior to the mainstream one and are practically denied the opportunity to continue their education in mainstream schools. The practice is so widely spread that these schools are usually referred to as Romani ghetto schools.
Promoted and intro edited by Colman
Original Intro:
Lately, there have been a couple of diaries on the discrimination of Roma people in Central and Eastern Europe--by hitchhiker and darin. In my diary, I address the issue of the segregation of Romani children in educational systems. I wrote an article concerning the latter on the October 2005 issue of a university publication, Verve. In my diary, I include information from some of my personal interviews.
Based on research conducted by the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), 70 percent of the Romani children attend Romani ghetto schools in Bulgaria. In the Czech Republic, around 75 per cent of Roma children are transferred to or directly enrolled in remedial special schools. In Slovakia, the number of Romani children in special remedial schools is between 80 to 100 percent. In Hungary and Romania, almost half of all children following the remedial special school program for the children with developmental disabilities were Roma. The segregation of Romani children in special remedial schools is implemented through different mechanisms. Initially, parents have to fill a request form for their child to attend a special school. In Bulgaria, for example, Bulgaria's Public Education Act requires the full consent of parents. Afterwards, every child is required to undergo an examination by the Rehabilitation and Expert Committee. Besides members of the committee, it also includes children's psychologists.
The leader of the Rehabilitation and Expert Committee in Blagoevgrad, Nadka Angelova, said Romani children attend special schools only after examination and demand from the parents. But none of the Romani parents interviewed said their children had been tested. VERVE, October 2005 Svetoslav Alexov, from Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, sent his two children to special schools and they never underwent an examination and said that he wasn't aware of the form. "I sent my kids to this school because they received free notebooks and food also," said Alexov, while his 18-yeal-old son Ilia, stopped studies after 8th grade.
Norka Kircheva, a student from Paisiy Hilendarksi, which is one of the 74 special schools in Bulgaria, said, "My parents tell me to come to school more often so that I receive a note that I'm attending. With that note we receive social benefits of 28 leva per month." VERVE, October 2005 Teachers and school officials often persuade parents that special schools are better for their children. Other Romani parents send their children directly to special schools since they are discriminated in mainstream ones.
A Romani mother in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic, told the ERRC that her daughter Veronika was discriminated in a regular school by the teachers. Consequently, Veronika began missing classes regularly. "I went to the schools to talk to her teacher and asked her why she did not like my daughter. She denied it and did not change her behavior, even though our people talked to her again after she did not let another Romani child use the toilet and so he `did it' in the class. So then, we decided to transfer Veronika to the remedial special school because we thought it would be better for her than not going to school at all," she said.
The latest effort to diminish Romani discrimination and segregation is the Decade of Roma Inclusion, which was approved by the European Parliament. It is an initiative adopted by eight countries in Central and Southeast Europe and supported by the international community. The Decade of Roma Inclusion will run from 2005 to 2015, aiming to emancipate Romani people into their respective countries and improve their economic and social status. [...] seeks to increase national programming, to ambitiously mobilize national agendas and resources, and to advocate strongly and consistently for systemic policy changes that work against segregation and all forms of racial discrimination of Roma children in the school systems. It challenges governments to meet their democratic commitments, working in collaboration with OSI programs such as the Roma Regional Participation Program and partners such as the European Roma Rights Center. One successful example where Romani students are being integrated is school 11 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. At school 11, parents are encouraged to be more involved in their children's education. As a result, students are spending longer hours at school to make up for the restrictive curriculum that they were previously exposed to. Many of the governments in Central and Eastern Europe deny that Romani children are purposefully segregated in special remedial schools.
A prohibition of segregation has been included at Article 4 , paragraph 9(c) of the Hungarian Public Education Act as amended in August 2003. The Act uses the term "illegal segregation" and prohibits it as a form of direct Discrimination [...] The Czech state has admitted the fact of overrepresentation of Roma in the schools for the developmentally disabled children but refused to qualify this state as de facto racial segregation. For example, in its most recent periodic report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Czech government failed to acknowledge the interference of racial factors in the assignment of Romani children to special education."
Ratifying documents cannot solve discrimination and segregation of the Romani people. Respective governments should be pressured more to deal with the issue. In field monitoring and reporting should be endorsed. Educative programs for teachers should also be applied so that they are freed from stereotypes usually connoted to Romani people. Only through more interactive approaches can this issue begin to be solved. |
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Segregation of Romani children in special school in Central and Eastern Europe | 13 comments (13 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Segregation of Romani children in special school in Central and Eastern Europe | 13 comments (13 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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