Education – Page 3 – ERGO Network

Roma access to mainstream education

ERGO NETWORK ANNUAL PUBLIC EVENT: Roma Access to Mainstream Education

This past 19 November, ERGO Network organised its annual public event, dedicated this year to debating how to ensure that Roma pupils and students can access mainstream education on equal footing and how to make education systems and establishments more inclusive, by combating segregation and discrimination in education settings. The event was co-organised with the generous support and participation of Hon. Romeo Franz MEP (Greens/EFA, Germany) and Hon. Peter Pollák MEP (EPP, Slovakia), and hosted at the premises of the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union.

The event was very well attended with over 80 participants, and it brought together ERGO members from the grassroots level in 14 European countries, European civil society organisations and other Brussels-level stakeholders, as well as EU policy-makers from across the institutional spectrum, including the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, and the Government of Croatia, who will hold the upcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Education is an increasingly important topic in the European public and political discourse, as an explicit objective of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. The latest communication issued by the European Commission on the Evaluation of the EU Roma Integration Strategies 2019, and its previous evaluations, clearly underline the need to prioritise education and training in policy initiatives. Several countries (BG, HU, RO, SK) received a Country-Specific Recommendation in 2019 regarding improving Roma access to quality education, as well as better integrating them into mainstream education.

However, this positive rhetoric still lacks the desired implementation, and the Roma are still too often left behind when it comes to accessing educational opportunities on equal footing with majority groups, due to structural antigypsyism and its manifestations in education, such as segregation. Existing legal and policy tools, including targeted actions on Roma education, as well as infringement procedures, are not as effective as they could be in challenging ingrained patterns of Roma exclusion and discrimination. From early childhood education and care to second-chance schools and informal education and to training and upskilling for the labour market, every person deserves the right to improve their competences and pursue their personal development.

The event included thought-provoking interventions which fostered a debate aimed at identifying positive solutions and policy proposals based on best practices, in order feed into the post-2020 policy and funding European frameworks relevant for Roma inclusion.

See more:

For more information about this event, or about ERGO Network’s work on inclusive education, please contact Senior Policy Adviser Amana Ferro.

This conference was kindly supported by a grant from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.

ERGO Network receives financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation EaSI (2014-2020). For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi

ERGO conference on education, 19 November

Roma access to mainstream education: ERGO Network annual conference

Time: 19 November 2019, 10:00-12:30

Place: Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union, Rue Belliard 60-62 (Brussels)

We kindly invite you to attend ERGO Network’s conference on Roma access to mainstream education.

Education is an increasingly important topic in the European public and political discourse, with objectives on education in the Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Sustainable Development Goals and the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. However, the Roma are still too often left behind when it comes to accessing educational opportunities on equal footing with majority groups. Existing legal and policy tools, including targeted actions on Roma education, as well as infringement procedures, are not as effective as they could be in challenging ingrained patterns of Roma exclusion and discrimination.

The conference will be kindly hosted by the Members of the European Parliament Romeo Franz (Greens/EFA) and Peter Pollák (EPP). It will bring together ERGO Network members from the grassroots level, European civil society organisations and other Brussels stakeholders, and EU policy-makers across the institutional spectrum, to discuss how to achieve real policy change for Roma in the area of education.

Have a look at the agenda of the conference.

Please don’t forget to register for the conference by following this link.

Venue: Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union, Rue Belliard 60-62 (Brussels)

For questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch: info@ergonetwork.org, +32 2 893 10 49.

This conference is kindly supported by a grant from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.

New school year for OTAHARIN

New school year for Otaharin

102 elementary school students in Bijeljina (Bosnia & Herzegovina) received school bags, materials and textbooks from ERGO Network member Otaharin as an incentive to study well in this new school year.

One of the most important activities of the Association is emphasizing the enrollment of children in the first grade of school. This year, we enrolled 18 Roma children and organized a preparatory program for them during the summer months. Also, as every year, we support 12 high school students through purchasing of textbooks, school supplies and school bags.

Having a baby, needing to beg or to do housework are just some why young people drop out of school early. Our goal is to teach both children and parents that primary education is compulsory and that as many children as possible should return to school. The place for children should be the school, not the streets.

The provision of textbooks, school bags and school supplies was supported by our long-standing partners and donors CARE Deutschland e.V., Save the Children in the North West Balkans and Schüler Helfen Leben.

In September Otaharin also had the honour of hosting a delegation of the Parish of the Protestant Church from Grossberen (Germany).

For more than 15 years, representatives of this parish organise collections for the most vulnerable residents of Bijeljina and Živinice. This humanitarian aid is distributed to people in social need in cooperation with the Red Cross of the City of Bijeljina, the Centre for Social Work in Bijeljina and Otaharin.

The delegation of the Parish pays special attention to the first graders of Roma origin who, in addition to humanitarian packages, are also provided with special gifts for the beginning of the school. This year more than 250 children from the City of Živinice received humanitarian aid.

Our association and many socially disadvantaged families owe great gratitude to these humane people for their dedicated humanitarian work and dedication.

Humanity, as one of the qualities we can rarely feel and see, is shown year after year by our friends, representatives of the Parish of the Protestant Church of Grossberen. For 16 years, these good people have been collecting clothes, hygiene products, school supplies and toys for the socially disadvantaged people in the towns of Bijeljina and Živinice.

SCHOOL DROPOUT OF ROMA IN ROMANIA

SCHOOL DROPOUT OF ROMA IN ROMANIA

Between antigypsyism, the socio – economic dysfunction of the
Romanian educational system and educational success

The present research paper aims to analyse in a qualitative manner the main and specific causes of school dropout in young Roma (including age, culture, economical status – poverty, social discrimination, infrastructure). Our purpose is to explore the phenomenon of school drop-out or early school-leaving as well as to identify its reasons among disadvantaged youth aged 14– 22, who failed to complete lower and/or upper secondary education, including of young people who dropped school to raise a family. In addition, the research includes 3 interviews with successful young Roma that are at postgraduate level (faculty, master and PhD) in order to analyse the educational success in a comparative manner.

Download the research paper here