Ten Years After: A History of Roma School Desegregation in Central and Eastern Europe

Introduction

Introduction The number of Roma in Europe is estimated by the Council of Europe at between eight to twelve million, most of them living in Central and Eastern Europe. Estimates from research and international organizations put the number of Roma as high as 800,000 in Bulgaria, 300,000 in the Czech Republic, 600,000 in Hungary, 2,500,000 in Romania and 550,000 in Slovakia.1 The governments of all these countries have adopted strategies to address the problems the Roma face, and because they are all members of the European Union have access to EU funds to help solve them. School segregation of Roma children has emerged as an underacknowledged yet critical issue in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Multiple factors explain why it has taken on such urgency, and each country has developed its own approach, with Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania embarking on a more visible desegregation process. The first and most important of these desegregation projects began in Vidin, Bulgaria, in 2000, at the initiative of Drom, a local nongovernmental organization (NGO), in response to the failure of the Bulgarian government to enact effective desegregation plans.2 In April 1999, following two years of intense negotiations with Romani NGOs, the government of Bulgaria adopted its Framework Program for the Equal Integration of Roma in Bulgarian Society, which includes language on desegregating the national educational system. However, the government failed to take any major steps to implement the Program. In response to this government inaction, during the 2000–2001 academic year, Drom enrolled 275 Romani children from the Nov Pat Romani neighborhood into integrated schools located in the city. The number of children increased to 460 by the end of the academic year; the following academic year, the number of children who benefited from the project 1 The figures are based on different estimates. For figures of different estimates, see B. Rorke and A. Wilkens, Roma Inclusion: Lessons Learned from OSI’s Roma Programming (New York: Open Society Institute, 2006) 8. 2 For detailed information about the project, see Open Society Institute, Roma Participation Program Reporter (August 2002). 2 Ten Years After increased to 611; another hundred children from the Romani neighborhood enrolled in two mixed schools on their own initiative. The academic achievements of the children participating in the project, both Roma and non-Roma, increased significantly in the new environment, as revealed by subsequent evaluations.3 Given the initial success of the Vidin project, in the next academic year, a number of other NGOs in Bulgaria modeled similar programs on Drom’s strategy, implementing projects in Pleven, Montana, Stara Zagora, Sliven, and Kaskovo. The idea of a book on Roma school desegregation emerged from several informal discussions on the subject I had with friends. The topics for discussions were initially larger: the future of the Romani movement, the European Union and human rights, Roma migration and challenges to the EU member states, etc. Since all the participants were involved with the school desegregation process, the discussions narrowed down to that subject . One of the conclusions was that even those interested in the problem did not have a clear picture of what was going on across the region. Details and lessons from some desegregation efforts in the recent past were already lost, or simply overlooked in the debate. Another conclusion of these discussions was that different people knew what was going on, but there was not enough information available on the subject to piece together the whole puzzle. For example, one might know in detail the situation in one country, but lack basic information on what is going on in others, as some interviews with Roma activists and education experts revealed. Moreover, most of this knowledge has not been properly documented and most of it is not available in writing. Thus, the idea was born of compiling a book to bring together information from across the region. It was conceived at an interesting moment— the 2010–2011 academic year marks the tenth anniversary of that first desegregation project in Vidin. This book aims to serve as a reference for academics and policy makers , especially those involved in education, on the policies and programs for desegregating Roma children within the educational systems in Central and East European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. 3 K. Kanev, The First Steps: An Evaluation of the Nongovernmental Desegregation Projects in Six Bulgarian Cities (Budapest: Open Society Institute, 2003) and Roma Education Fund, On...