Discriminated in the EU: The Roma Children’s Right to Education

By Gigi Manukyan

European countries need to effectively implement more inclusive education policies and strategies to integrate the Roma population into their respective societies as recommended by UNICEF, whose approach has been met with great success. Failure to do so may result in more unsuccessful initiatives such as the Decade for Roma Inclusion.

Photo by Johann Walter on Unsplash.

“For the European Union to become a true Union of Equality we need to ensure that millions of Roma are treated equally, socially included, and able to participate in social and political life without exception.”

                        Helena Dalli, UN Commissioner for Equality (“Commission,” 2020)

The Roma, Europe’s largest stateless minority, are arguably one of the world’s most hated groups of people. Having faced generations of prejudice and discrimination, they face high rates of poverty and illiteracy, as well as less access to education and healthcare. While commonplace antiziganism is at the root of their exclusion, eliminating centuries of deep-seated hatred of the Roma is proving a difficult task. (i) Prejudice affects all aspects of Romani life, especially for their children. And although the EU has made strides towards closing the educational and poverty gaps for the Roma, many barriers remain.

The Roma in Europe

The “Roma”, an ethnic group of traditionally itinerant people, arrived in Europe from the Punjab region of Northern India between the 8th and 10th centuries. (“Roma,” 2010) Currently, up to 12 million Roma live across Europe.  An umbrella term for the different subgroups across the continent, including the Ashkali, Dom, and Traveller populations, “Roma” identify as predominantly Christian or Muslim. They typically speak one of several Romani dialects or a mixed language of Romani origin. They are a unique group of people whose mystical past only fueled cruelty by the Europeans.

Since their arrival in Europe, they faced enslavement in Hungary, senseless murder in Germany, expulsion from England, and forced female sterilization in the Czech Republic. During the Holocaust, the Nazis killed between an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 Romani; however, unlike their Jewish counterpart, the Roma’s tribulations have been virtually forgotten in the European collective memory. It was not until late 1979 that the West German Federal Parliament acknowledged the Nazi’s persecution of the Roma as racially motivated, and provided compensation to some.

Prejudice against this group did not cease with the defeat of the Third Reich. During the Communist era, they were excluded from the majority of society, relocated to ghettos and segregated neighborhoods. Their education was geared towards low-skilled labor, and some of such attitudes persist today. In recent years, housing legislation targeted at forcibly removing the Roma have become commonplace in countries like Romania and Bulgaria, where the majority of Europe’s Roma population reside. Excessive force by police officers against them is also widespread in Europe, which only discourages the Roma from going to the police. Furthermore, since considered outsiders in their countries of residence, they may refrain from registering with the state. Their inability to obtain legal status thus prevents them from accessing benefits that citizens readily enjoy, such as healthcare and pensions. These issues affect not only the quality of their education, but even their willingness to learn. Despite centuries of persistent poverty and prejudice, Europe only became interested in understanding the “Roma problem” towards the end of the 20th century.

Initiatives to better Romani access to education in Europe popularized in the 1990s. Inspired by the 2003 World Bank conference “Roma in an Expanding Europe: Challenges for the Future”, the United Nations kicked off the “Decade for Roma Inclusion” (2005-2015), a pan-European initiative with efforts from governmental, intra-governmental, and non-governmental organizations to improve the living conditions of the Roma in education, health, employment, and housing (Kirova).  Despite some increases in primary school enrollment, the “Decade for Roma Inclusion” did little to close the gap between the Romani and non-Romani, as the Romani still performed worse than Europe’s other minorities (Miskovic, 2016).

Across countries that implemented the initiative, an average of only one in ten Romani completed primary education, while more than one in three still lived in absolute poverty (Jovanic, 2015). The initiative’s failure revealed that a decade of inclusion measures could not undo centuries of discrimination. In response to that, the EU launched in 2009 the “European Platform for Roma Inclusion” with the goal of increasing the “coherence and effectiveness of the parallel policy processes at national, European and international level, with a view to creating synergies” (“Communication,” 2010). Yet, like its predecessor, the updated inclusion efforts failed to meet its goals.

 Why are Roma children still behind?

The Roma’s difficulties begin early on. As healthy early-child development lays the groundwork for the rest of a child’s life, the cycle of poverty inhibits Roma children from realizing their true potential. Discrimination greatly affects Romani children’s access to education, which begins even before they are born. Some mothers lack access to prenatal care and basic healthcare services, while others may lack the means to reach health facilities. For many, unawareness simply inhibits them from obtaining such resources. Due to such issues, Romani children are more likely to be underweight and prone to psychological issues, diminishing their ability to perform. 

Compared to their peers, the educational achievements of Romani children have been lacking throughout Europe. Across Southern Europe, preschool enrollment ranges from 0.2% in Kosovo to 17% in Romania, compared to 94.8% of overall children in the EU. “In most countries, only about 20% of Romani children ever complete primary school,” compared to 90% of their non-Romani counterparts. Meanwhile, “only 18% of Roma children ever enroll in secondary school and less than one per cent attend university” (“The Right,” 2011). For Roma girls, the education retention rate is lower due to the normalization of child marriage and rigid gender roles that de-emphasized education. Even if Romani children continue their education, they experience higher rates of bullying by both their peers and by educational instructors, which can greatly affect their performance.

Another learning barrier is segregated education. Throughout Europe (especially Slovakia and the Czech Republic), Romani children are systematically segregated due to unfounded notions of inferiority (“The Right,” 2011). The quality of the education provided is lower than in regular schools, and resources are lacking. In other EU Member States, Romani children are placed in institutions for children with mental disabilities solely because of their ethnicity.

Where government initiatives fail, UNICEF fills the gap

 International and local NGOs play a key role in meeting the needs of isolated minorities. Joint efforts with the government on the local level can ensure the success of inclusion-building measures, which are critical for the Roma. Since the 1990s, UNICEF has worked to improve Romani children’s access to education, including the incorporation of Roma-inclusive education plans. UNICEF’s work is two-fold: conducting research for policy strategies and funding programs aimed at Romani success.

In lieu of ineffective government policies, UNICEF’s work serves to make basic services accessible to the Romani. One such UNICEF service is their home-visiting programs to provide parents access to health, early childhood development, education and social protection services (“Roma Children”).  Although UNICEF’s activities for Romani inclusion vary from country to country, they work with local governments and municipalities to ensure that the goals laid out in Romani inclusion policies are fully met. In Bulgaria, for instance, “following on from UNICEF research on child marriages, three family centers are now running programs to prevent such marriages and promote access to secondary education for Romani adolescent girls” (“Roma Children”). Another successful project implemented by UNICEF was in the Maldovan village of Vulcanesti, where they and a local NGO increased the number of Romani children attending school from 7 to 70. (“Improved,” 2018)

Given UNICEF’s success on the ground, the organization’s research is the best option for effective government policies. The following are manageable short-term goals recommended by UNICEF that can have a lasting impact on Romani children in early education:

1. Free early education. UNICEF recommends at minimum “a commitment to two years of free preschool education for at least 80% of Romani children” (“The Right,” 2011).
2. Community-building approach. Stressing the importance of community-based projects allows the Romani to be more active stakeholders rather than passive beneficiaries of aid. Early childhood facilities can allow parents to come play with their children or take part in preparing or teaching lesson plans. Incorporating parents can also strengthen their relationship with their child, which is a major problem within Romani communities.
3. Providing holistic service.  Investing in early childhood education alone cannot alleviate the problems of Romani children. Governments should utilize education centers as healthcare providers, capacity building for parents, and nutrition support. 
4. Extension of UNICEF’s programs. Poverty for the Roma is generational, so governments must invest in the education of young mothers. As illiteracy rates are higher for Romani girls and women, and mothers are Romani children’s primary caretakers, lack of education prevents them from helping with learning at home. 
5. Make education more accessible. Due to the poor conditions of Romani settlements, many children do not have access to good education. The schools in Romani neighborhoods are of poor quality, and accessibility to better schools may be out of reach due to distance and lack of mobility opportunities.
6. De-segregated classrooms. Inclusion of Romani and non-Romani children in the same classrooms can change negative local attitudes towards the Romani in the long term. Segregation only fuels stereotypes, so de-segregating classrooms is an essential start to undoing antiziganism.

The efficacy of the initiative taken in Vulcanești was due to the enactment of a series of measurements: UNICEF provided reliable transportation, free healthy meals, a safe learning environment, and encouraged parents to partake in the classroom. Their success showed that helping the Roma is achievable, unlike as perceived through failed government initiatives. Along with the recommended short-term policies, long-term goals that address education retention are needed as well. Short-term solutions are only successful in the short term, and must be followed up with long-term goals. However, this should not hinder governments from emphasizing the importance of early childhood education as Romani children will have better odds of succeeding later in life.

Challenges hindering inclusion success

            While strides have been made towards greater Romani integration, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed by governments and NGOs alone cannot eradicate. One such problem is the difficulty in data collection due to the nomadic nature of the Romani population coupled with the color blind approach to policy making taken by many European states. (ii) Efforts to accurately address shortcomings that are unique to the Romani experience are deeply undermined. Deep mistrust of the government also prevents them from readily self-identifying. Moreover, they are likely to register their births with local governments, which only limit their childcare options. As these elements shape educational policies, such drawbacks can negatively impact the inclusion of Romani children. Additionally, distrust of the government and governmental institutions can deter them from willingly participating in society at-large. Only trusted gatekeepers can facilitate community inclusion, and those are limited in number even within NGOs. (Condon, 2019)

Education measures will continue to fail unless member states and NGOs work to address Romani social exclusion. Due to prior education barriers, most Romani are not aware of their legal rights, or the commitments their governments have made under international law. One way to address this is to foster an environment for greater Roma civil engagement, which has been historically lacking. Civil society organizations are an important middleman between society and the government as they hold governments accountable and help allocate funds through NGOs. Typically, civil societies are the most knowledgeable of international law and human rights developments; therefore, they can play a crucial role in obtaining greater rights for the Roma. However, as long as a unified Romani civil society is weak, the inherent rights of the Roma will remain hidden to them.

Crippling poverty and community isolation continue to persist as well, which the pandemic has only exacerbated. Lack of transport to school, overcrowding, distance of schools or facilities, and other financial burdens are just some of the issues in Romani settlements. Member states must improve conditions across settlements as such inconveniences impede children’s access to quality education.

Romani culture itself can serve as a challenge for greater inclusion since their communities are generally close-knit and emphasize traditional values that do not typically align with Western viewpoints. This isolation of the Romani people has resulted from centuries of marginalization by countries that have cast them off as outsiders. Forced child marriages, which result in Romani girls leaving school between the ages of 12 and 16, diminish their chances of upward mobility. UNICEF’s work in Bulgaria was tantamount to getting more young girls educated, but efforts need to be made on the legislative level as well. 

 Conclusion

            Romani access to education requires their successful integration into the greater society. Thus, group efforts must be made by the collective EU governments, international and local NGOs, and the Romani themselves. NGOs cannot force participation, and state measures can only be successful if they are embraced by the Romani.

To encourage integration, EU governments must work in conjunction with other member states, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to gain trust. EU member states should work with UNICEF and other organizations in implementing their recommended measures. Throughout the next decade, member states must fully comply with the new “2020 EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies,” unlike previous unsuccessful initiatives. Although NGOs have laid the groundwork for greater inclusion, the burden ultimately falls on the state to ensure that the needs of the Romani children are met.

Endnotes:

(i) Antiziganism is the racism and hatred of the Roma people, which serves as the basis for discriminatory anti-Roma policies and measures.

(ii) A color blind approach to policy making refers to states who do not use ethnic categories in policy making, which hinders efforts to address and instill anti-discriminatory policies.

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