by Martina Čermáková & Chris McMorrow

Labeling the Czech education system linguistically and culturally ethnocentric is perhaps too bold, but, argue the existing infrastructure limits Romany children’s ability to complete primary education, and you’ll get an approving nod. It’s a system that plunges them into a cycle of poverty and low achievement. With most Roma having only completed primary school, they are sentenced to an average of 69 Kč an hour; with a high school education, the earning potential is almost double.

The current situation presents a double-rail system dichotomizing basic education into ordinary primary schools and special remedial schools characterized by high numbers of Romany children. The situation is, however, not clear-cut, and complexities arise as schools employ different programs that diverge in curricula, eventually creating less-demanding, predominantly Roma classes.

The seeds of inequality are planted in the preschool education that Romany children lack. Out of financial concerns and cultural habits promoting strong family bonds, Roma are not apt to place their children in kindergartens, which prepare kids for primary school. With their underdeveloped writing and language skills, there’s a tendency to underestimate Romany children’s abilities and have them attend a special program or school with reduced curricula and less-demanding expectations. The education system must convert from saboteur to partner and a facilitate rather than impair.

The Education Ministry set up zero-level classes for the socially underprivileged, which prepare children to enter basic school. Unfortunate competition for kindergartens, as Marie Kalinova from Step by Step ČR affirms, these classes “are quite popular among the Roma communities.”

In 2003, the nongovernmental Step by Step ČR implemented Kukadla, [Peepers] a pilot program that has shown profound progress. Fieldworkers dispatched to Ostrava, Brno and Pardubice worked with Roma to win trust and reshape attitudes concerning kindergarten. The project also included teacher and staff training and assistant teachers who aid children to adapt. Results suggest a success: 43 Romany children signed up for kindergarten and seven kindergartens fully implemented the assistant teacher component. Evaluations indicate the effect assistant teachers have on both smoothing children’s transfer and the long-term retention of children. Kukadla exemplifies the benefits of a partnership between the Roma community and the educational institution based on communication among parents, teachers and children. It’s not by chance that Step by Step’s central vision is grounded in parent and community involvement and cooperation.

Other nontraditional programs that focus on keeping students in primary schools are being implemented. In 1996 the nonprofit Nová Škola began training assistant teachers to serve as bilingual role models in primary schools. In 1998, the Education Ministry decided to pay for these positions. Initially set up to target the soaring student dropout rate, assistant teachers labor in and outside the classroom to help struggling students from dropping out of elementary schools. Much like Kukadla’s assistant teachers, the approximately 330 assistant teachers working today help bridge the gap between Romany parents and teachers and administrators.

The Community School Project provides an even more comprehensive approach to intercultural learning. Participating institutions with over 50 percent Romany student bodies are given funding to transform their buildings into multipurpose community centers that remain open well into the evening. Romany adults and children can take advantage of free social and health services, recreational programs and work preparation courses.

Beyond primary school, the statistics for academic success grow bleak—the Education Ministry estimates less than 5 percent of Romany students get into and graduate from secondary schools. The figure is a result of poor material conditions, low educational results and failure of school authorities to enforce truancy rules in predominantly Roma schools, as well as the assignment of Romany students to remedial schools. One standout program aiding these kids in their steep climb up the educational ladder is Rozlety (Taking Off), which is also sponsored by the Prague-based Nová Škola. In the program, seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders are tutored in Czech and math, the two subjects crucial to forming their academic future.

While these and other supplemental academic programs are increasing in number and notoriety, widespread change must be pursued on the legislative front. Spearheading the effort to bring discriminatory practices to light is the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), a public interest law organization that campaigns for the rights of Roma. The focus on anti-Roma discrimination in school has remained a key element of the organization’s battle against racial bias since it was formed a decade ago, with an extensive network of lawyers and Roma rights advocates representing cases with the potential to act as a catalyst for reform.

The ERRC brought the landmark D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic segregation case in 1999, producing detailed and comprehensive statistical evidence that a disproportionate number of students in Ostrava’s special remedial schools are Roma. Seven years on, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in February of this year that the students did not prove the country’s intent to discriminate. The claimants have since filed their final appeal with the Grand Chamber, the court’s highest body.

The significance of this case should not be underestimated, as it could precipitate an end to the rampant practice of school discrimination throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Despite the ECHR issued EU Race Equality Directive that outlaws direct and indirect discrimination, outlawing discrimination based on race—and the degree to which this will be put into practice—remains to be seen. The success of the Ostrava case would go a long way in setting a precedent against school segregation and providing equal education to a new generation of Roma leaders.

www.errc.org (Support the ERRC)

www.novaskola.org

www.sbscr.cz

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