Should boarding schools help integrate Roma children into society?
The sound of a school yard isn't very familiar to many Roma children in Slovakia simply because many of them do not spend much time in school. Social assistants involved in different projects in Roma communities say that many families are so poor that buying clothes or textbooks for school will never be among their priorities. Under these circumstances the recent statements of the EU Ambassador to Slovakia, Erik van der Linden, who said that Roma children should be sent to boarding schools, provoked mixed reactions.
The European Roma Information Office, an organization based in Brussels, criticized the proposal as a plan for forced assimilation of Roma minority. They even said that Mr van der Linden's head should roll, while the spokesperson of the European Commission, Reijo Kemppinen, banned the Ambassador from making any statements on the topic.
"His words were not chosen too carefully and we regret this incident."
But in Bratislava, van der Linden's comments didn't stir the same emotional reaction. The leaders of two prominent Roma organisations even expressed their support for sending Roma children to boarding schools. Alexander Patkolo, the Head of Roma Initiative says the idea is neither new nor bad.
"This could be the first step toward improving the education level of Roma people. There is nothing wrong with this idea. All we have to do is to go out in communities and explain to people that nobody plans to take their children by force and send them to boarding schools. We should explain to parents that their children will spend only 5 days per week there and we'll have better conditions there - better food, and clothes and more favourable conditions for learning something that will bring them a job and a better life in the future."
Two special boarding schools for Roma children have already begun working in Kosice in the Eastern part of the country. Another will be soon opened in Zvolen in Central Slovakia. Some of their staff are of Roma origin and pupils have in their curriculum subjects related to the history and culture of Roma. These schools have received financial support from the European Union which has already invested more than 100 million euro in a wide range of programmes aimed at improving the situation of Roma communities in Slovakia. Alexander Patkolo has nothing against using financial incentives to persuade parents to send their children to boarding schools.
"The media put it in such a way that everything is about money in the end. Well, some financial help is always welcome but I am sure that many parents can be also motivated by the idea that their children will live a better life than them. I think this is more appealing than money."
