Slovakia slammed for Roma boarding school plan

Politics

09.03.2010

by John Beauchamp

Roma children in Eastern Slovakia

Photo: Jan Josef Horvath/ The Advocacy Project (flickr)

Prime Minister Robert Fico has caused an outcry with his proposals to take Roma children from their families and send them to special boarding schools, which he claims is the only way to integrate the next generation of Roma into the rest of Slovakian society.

His comments came after UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay criticised Slovakia and the neighbouring Czech Republic over the "noticeably deteriorating" treatment of their large ethnic Roma minorities.

Prime Minister Fico told the TASR Slovak news agency that while he expects “various negative reactions from the European Union to the introduction of boarding schools for Roma children,” he can see no other way to integrate the Romani community into Slovakian society.

“It seems that there is no other system. Many things have been tried... If we don't do it, we will raise another generation of Roma which will not be able to integrate,” Fico said.

Amnesty International has decried the proposed move as "discriminatory and a blatant attack on the Roma way of living". Stating that such schools could cause more segregation, the organisation's Europe Programme director Halya Gowan expressed concerns that they would also be against the children's best interests. “Uprooting them from their surroundings and removing them from their families is an attack on their identity,” she said.

Slovak Minorities Minister Dušan Čaplovič said that the initial plans had been approved by Roma officials, and stressed that children wouldl only attend the boarding schools with permission from parents.

The Roma population accounts for almost 10 percent of Slovakia's 5.4 million population. Many Romani live in poverty, and unemployment rates in their communities can often reach over 50 percent.

Comments

by William C. Wormuth

10.03.2010

Other

The problem with the Romani in Slovakia is real. The Romi have for centuries stolen everything from fences, garden products, livestock, geese, chickens, rabbits, dogs etc.
The government has tried very hard to establish them as social participating, hard working citizens.
I have seen apartment buildings that were built for them, where they have removed windows and doors, burning them for winter fuel.
They have refused to keep their children in schools and these limitations have kept their offspring from joining the society as professionals.
I am sorry to generalize and must say that there are Romani who have succeeded in the professions as doctors, engineers , lawyers, etc. but they are in the minority.
In 2008, I attended the opening of the tourist season in Spisska Nova Ves. There was a large group of young Romani, very clean and dressed in modern clothing. My heart was broken when It came to me that these young people had no future.
The Catholic church his also trying to bring them into the society with limited success.
When the term "integrate into our society" is used, it does not mean that the Romani must lose their culture, but must participate by learning to speak, read and write the language of the country they reside in, plus ensure that their children be educated in local schools and be educated enough to work in the cities and towns.
Prejudice does exist but appears to be breaking down in these modern times.
The recent plan to place the children in boarding schools might help, but the placement must be approved by the parents.
I think that condemnation of the Slovak population and government for the existing problem is unfair. They have striven to eliminate the problem but without the cooperation of the Romani population, it has been impossible.
Each plan seems to be condemned by the Romani and the EU.
WITHOUT LIVING THE PROBLEM THERE IS NO UNDERSTANDING.
Vilo