Before I launch into this next post, I want to make some things clear so as to avoid some of the knee-jerk responses. I am not naive or ignorant about the difficulties of working in education with children who are marginalised on the fringes of society. I have stated before that I worked for many years with children and teenagers who had been, or were about to be, excluded from school . I have a deep understanding of the complex factors that make it difficult for children to be in school, to stay in school or to complete their schooling. For the education process to meet the needs of ALL children there has to be involvement on every level with the authorities, the educators, the social services and the parents/ guardians. In the Roma community, as with all impoverished, marginalised communities, there are specific problems that lead to the children never attending or dropping out of school. Poverty, lack of parental education, racism, mistrust of the system, to name but a few.

Having said that, in Europe, education is compulsory for ALL children from the age of 6 to 16 years old. That  means that the authorities must not only provide the education system but it must also act to make sure that ALL children are within it. That means seeking out children who are falling through the net. That means checking up on children who are registered for school and are not attending and finding out why. That means providing social services to help those families to find ways of keeping their children in school. That means special education assistance for those with learning difficulties. That means providing extra classes for those whose native language is not the official one. That means providing transport for those who cannot travel to and from school for a variety of reasons. That means taking responsibility for the other services and social programmes which support ALL children in gaining an education. And the list goes on….

In this post I am plainly focusing on one particular aspect of education for Roma children. Their exclusion. Needless to say, the government is not even getting the first step of providing education for ALL children right.

Getting children in school in the first place.

Part Three: Education

At the settlement in Votanikos, the people told me that none of the approximately 500 children go to school. Why not ? There is an often cited racist myth that Roma children do not go to school because they don't want to attend. The truth is that they are systematically excluded by the schools, by the education authorities and by the parents of non-Roma children . Municipal and school authorities often refuse to register Roma children or fail to provide transport from distant settlements to the school.

Children that do manage to register and attend school often find that they are placed in Roma-only schools or filtered into racially segregated classrooms. In some of these classes the age range is as much as 6 to 13 years old  studying the same book. The standard of education in the segregated schools or classrooms is sub-standard, with very few hours of tuition and frequently absent teachers.

Apart from this extreme reaction of some parents, the attendance of non-Roma children drops dramatically if Roma children are allowed to attend. The parents say that they are worried that their childrens education will suffer as a result (as well as stating numerous other racist beliefs that they hold). Instead of seeking to ensure that the standard of education is high and equal for all children, the authorities keep the numbers of Roma children in any one school down to the bare minimum by splitting them between different schools and municipalities. This means that they are often miles away and cannot get there. Even where school transport is provided for children because they live in remote areas, the bus drivers are not instructed to (or told not to) stop at settlements to pick up the Roma children.

For the children who do manage to be registered, and do manage to get to school everyday, and do manage to have a few hours of teaching everyday, there is still the intolerable level of racism that they face from teachers, parents and classmates. (I will be covering racism in a later post)

Is it still surprising that the children of the Roma communities do not go to school? 

I asked some of the girls whether they wanted to go to school. They all said yes without hesitation. Their mother said she knew how important it was that they should learn but she had little hope that any of them would have that opportunity.

While the City of Athens is busying itself with plans of a new stadium and other such monstrous wastes of money, the lives of the 500 children of Votanikos are being destroyed. Overlooked and ignored, And what is more galling to me, and I am sure to everyone who has seen this place, is that it is being done with full knowledge of the situation. It is a systematic and deliberate "turning a blind eye"

If education is the key to the future for children, then they have no future.

And tell me that you can look into the eyes of these little ones and feel nothing about that.

Tomorrow: Health

[Full letter to Ministries in Greece on Roma discrimination in school dated October 25th 2005]