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This is concluded in the Macedonia country report on Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma. The report synthesizes the findings of the existing studies on the issue and brings to light new data. Three case studies, covering Gostivar, Shuto Orizari, and Shtip, reveal important details about local practices and reflect what national policies mean to actual communities.
It was prepared by a team of local experts. Goran Janev and Anica Dragovic of the Institute for Sociological, Political, and Juridical Research authored the report with the research support of Roma activists Redzep ali Cupi, Ibrahim Ibrahimi and Sabina Mustafa.
Photo gallery of launch event at the website of the National Roma Centrum
The report, which first appeared in English in 2007 and is now available in Macedonian as well, was presented at a launch event on 29 September. It is considered to be one of the rare objective documents on the Roma condition in Republic of Macedonia.
The presentation of the Macedonia country report, which was held at the Promo Centre "Public room", was organised by the citizens' association National Roma Centrum (NRC) from Kumanovo, in cooperation with EUMAP and the Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia.
It was attended by a range of participants, including Nezdet Mustafa, Minister without portfolio in the Macedonian Government, Violeta Taseva, member of the Parliamentary Commission for Education and Science, and the report's authors, Goran Janev and Anica Dragovic.
The heads of the sectors for coordination and technical support for both the Minister of Labour and Social Policy and the Minister of Education and Science attended, as did OSCE and EC representatives. But so did school representatives, Roma parents and NGOs and the Mayor of Suto Orizari.
The findings of the report spurred the attending officials on to a very constructive debate following the presentation. Extensive minutes from the event can be downloaded as PDF file on this site.
The launch event attracted media attention: Watch clips from Sitel, A1 and Sutel on the website of the National Roma Centrum.
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Serbia's chance to lead the way to better education for Roma
Roma in Serbia still lack equal access to quality education, with a less than 50% participation rate in primary school. Of those children who do attend, only half succeed in mastering basic principles of mathematics and language.
These findings are presented in the Serbia country report on Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma, which surveys all existing studies and data on the subject, and further illustrates the situation with new, in-depth research conducted in three communities: Niš, Valjevo, and Zemun (Belgrade).
The report, published by EUMAP in collaboration with the Education Support Program and the Roma Participation Program of the Open Society Institute, was drafted by Jadranka Stojanović of the Fund for an Open Society – Serbia and Aleksandar Baucal of the University of Belgrade's Department of Psychology. It commends the Serbian government for having made real efforts to tackle the problems facing Roma as part of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015.
Now, upon assuming the Presidency of this international initiative that includes eight other countries, Serbia has an opportunity to show how true progress can be made.
This point was echoed when the report was presented in Belgrade on 23 October. The launch event itself took place in cooperation with the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, within the scope of the Serbian presidency activities in the Decade of Roma Inclusion.
It featured presentations by representatives of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human and Minority rights, which emphasised the importance of continued implementation of positive educational policies.
(Photo on the right used under a Creative Commons license from Bart Rosier.)
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