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Amnesty International Slams Educational Practices for Roma in Slovakia
Thursday 08 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 8 (TASR) - Amnesty International (AI) on International Roma Day on Thursday blasted Deputy Premier for Minorities Dusan Caplovic and Education Minister Jan Mikolaj for keeping Roma children in segregated classrooms and special schools and for working towards the setting-up of separate schools for the minority.
The global human rights organisation urged both government members to admit in public that the above practices have been going on for a long time in Slovakia and that this calls for the educational system to be overhauled.
AI described the findings of research into Roma education as alarming. It noted that no more than 3 percent of Roma pupils successfully complete secondary-school education and that Roma youngsters make up 60 percent of the pupils attending schools for children with special needs.
With such an educational policy, the Government is ushering in another generation of Roma, who, having attended special schools, will be disqualified from the labour market and doomed to a continued cycle of poverty and unemployment.
AI also urged the European Union as a whole and its member states to take specific steps to break down the cycle of discrimination, poverty and exclusion experienced by Roma communities across Europe.
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