Education – Page 2 – ERGO Network

Making the wheel roll

Making the wheel roll

The European Platform for Roma Inclusion, convened by the European Commission, brings together national governments, the European institutions, international organisations and Roma civil society representatives. By creating a professional hub and meeting place for all, the goal is to strengthen co-operation and exchanges of relevant experience among all stakeholders on efficient Roma inclusion and integration policies and practices.

The European Roma Platform is a significant forum for reflection and apprehensive actions of the multi-stakeholder circle on social and economic integration the Roma population.

The 11^th European Roma Platform took place on 27/28 November in Brussels and focused on the transition from education to employment. Szabolcs Schmidt, head of unit of non-discrimination and Roma coordination, delivered the opening remarks on behalf of the European Commission. The first panel provided evidence on the choice of this event`s topic. The latest numbers and percentages of the European Minorities and Discrimination Survey of the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency show that despite growing national employment levels, the changes in Roma employment levels are small, or negative. The rate of those Roma who are not in education has also risen in almost all Member States of the EU where a considerable Roma population lives.

Participants from all over Europe shared their concepts and findings from the national level through thematic workshops in the afternoon.

ERGO Network was actively involved in the preparation and running of the event. Not only did several member organisations participate in the platform, ERGO director Jamen Gabriela Hrabanova also facilitated the thematic workshop on employment. ERGO furthermore launched a campaign to mobilize support for investing in employment opportunities for young Roma during the platform: `Investing in our future: What work(s) for young Roma?’ We brought the messages of young Roma themselves to the event, explored and developed at the ERGO Summer Academy by members of our network. 11 powerful testimonies of young Roma were furthermore portrayed on figurines exhibited around the venue of the event in order to raise awareness of the education and employment challenges of Roma in Europe.

The conclusions of the Platform might not be new to most, but they show the will of the EU institutions and civil society to make the wheel roll for Roma youth employment. It was clearly highlighted that particularly mechanisms challenging school segregation are in high need and that challenging antigypsyism needs to be the basis for combating poverty and social exclusion.

ERGO Network will definitely keep the wheel rolling to support the implementation of more and better education and employment measures for young Roma.

ERGO Network asks for end to segregation of Romani children

ERGO Network asks for end to segregation of Romani children 10 years after landmark decision of European Court on Human Rights

Press release – Brussels – 15/11/2017

10 years ago 18 Romani children from Ostrava in Czech Republic received a positive verdict of the European Court on Human Rights, acknowledging that placing them in segregated substandard education for children with mental or intellectual impairments constitutes a violation of their human rights.

This decision on the D.H. case on 13 November 2007 constituted a turning point for Roma children and their families in Europe, as for the first time a court ruled that segregation in education is unlawful.

Still today, however, Roma children continue to be perceived as outsiders and intruders in European countries where they have lived for centuries and are often denied access to quality education. In Central and Eastern Europe, segregation mechanisms channel on average30 percent of Roma students into ethnically segregated and lower quality schools and classes.

Gabriela Hrabanova, Director of ERGO Network, points out: “Putting our children into segregated schools is a direct manifestation of racism, deriving from the deeply embedded structural antigypsyism in the practice of authorities, institutions and society as a whole”.

Segregation in education does not only seriously harm the prospects of Roma students who don’t receive quality education, are at greater risk of poverty and are stigmatised for the rest of their lives; it denies all children the benefits of diversity in education and the chance to learn from one another. Parents need to be better informed and mobilised in order not to send their children to segregated schools.

ERGO Network calls on the European Union and its Member States to strictly follow-up on the infringement procedures for discrimination against Roma students launched against the governments of Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic and to step up their efforts to ensure equal citizenship of the 6 Million Roma in the EU. This can include a local ex-ante conditionality for accessing EU funds that will put in place local desegregation plans, continued civil society monitoring on the implementation of National Roma Integration Strategies and the use of EU funds and stronger efforts to combat antigypsyism throughout the EU.

Download the press release here.

The European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network (ERGO) brings together over 25 (pro) Roma grassroots organisations from across Europe to empower communities, fight antigypsyism and achieve equal citizenship.

Contact: Jamen Gabriela Hrabanova (g.hrabanova@ergonetwork.org, +32 2 893 1049), www.ergonetwork.org

Czech NGOs meet with Czech Ministry of Education

Czech NGOs meet with Czech Ministry of Education

Czech Deputy Education Minister Václav Pícl met with representatives of a National Working Group that consists of 11 Romani non-profit organizations from all over the Czech Republic on 3 October in his office at the ministry. “The aim of the meeting is to establish a constructive collaboration between established Romani nonprofit organizations and the Education Ministry. The coalition works with as many as 8 000 Romani people around the country and can be a bridge between the Romani community and the state administration,” said Jelena Silajdži, director of ERGO member Slovo 21.

During the hour-long discussion the specific aims and the fulfilment of the Czech Government’s Romani Integration Strategy were touched upon, as was the insufficient representation of Romani people in advisory positions within the executive branch, the legislature and the state administration, as well as the planned changes to pre-school education next year and scholarship programs for Romani students. The ministry representative was invited to visit the IQ Roma Service organization in Brno to see examples of good practice in the area of preschool education and activation of Romani parents.

The NGOs will continue their discussions with the Education Ministry at their next meeting in December. Representatives of IQ Roma Service, Jekhetane, OSF Praha, ROMEA and Slovo 21 attended the meeting.

Slovo 21, ERGO Network’s member from Czech Republic, is coordinating the work of the coalition through the project “Roma Included”, which is part of ERGO’s Annual Work Program. The project is organized with the financial support of the European Commission’s EaSI program.

Source: Romea.cz