Only 8 percent of the Roma have secondary education, while just 0.3 percent have university education
Only 8 percent of the Roma have secondary education (which is five times less than the majority population) while just 0.3 percent have university education (which is 20 percent less than the majority population). An even greater problem is the fact that good students and pupils do not always manage to get a job in Serbia and have to leave the country after they finish their education.
Roma Health Scholarship Program (RHSP) is an international assistance project that has been supporting students and pupils for six years now in education in the fields of medicine, stomatology and pharmacy, at a university level and the level of high and secondary vocational schools. Within the scope of the public health program and in line with the Decade of Roma, this important project is financed by the Fund for an Open Society (FOSS), while Roma Education Fund (REF) carries out its scholarship component.
“This program is important for many reasons. First of all, there are very few Roma health workers. Some research works have indicated to an inconceivable discrimination in the health care system. Hence, the Fund for an Open Society as well as Roma Education Fund had many reasons to launch such a scholarship program”, Program Coordinator Jelica Nikolić says for “Danas”, emphasizing that the Program objective is not only to award scholarships, namely, to render financial aid to the students who want to be educated in the field of medicine, but also to provide additional forms of assistance and support through different components.
RHS Program, which has been conducted in Serbia since 2010, is implemented in four countries of the region (apart to Serbia, in Bulgaria, Romania and Macedonia) and consists of four components: scholarship component, mentoring, public advocacy and media component. It is important to mention that the scholarship component is realized by the Roma Education Fund (REF), mentoring is conducted by the School of Public Health, the Association of Roma Students from Novi Sad is involved in public advocacy and Media Centre engages in the media component.
“Exceptionally important is the component of public advocacy where our scholarship holders are taught how to, for instance, negotiate with the ministries, local self-governments and health institutions in order to be able to represent the Roma community interests, particularly in the field of health care. In addition, there is a mentoring component which is, as the students very often point out, the most important one for them, because their mentors are actually their university professors and for them it means, not merely an academic, but rather a psychological and an emotional support”, Coordinator Nikolić is explaining the significance of the Program highlighting that such work has up to now given good results, which are reflected in the fact that six scholarship holders have already completed the degree ‘’Bachelor of Medicine’’ and that a notable number of those who finished medical secondary and high schools have alreadygot a job. The problem is, however, that these good students and pupils do not always manage to find a job in Serbia, so they leave the country after they complete their education.
“Having in mind the situation of the health care system in our country, sometimes the students play from the very beginning with the idea of leaving somewhere abroad,” says Jelica Nikolić.
Yet, the Roma students and pupils staying in Serbia is exactly the right way to beak the prejudice and stereotypes in our society and show the examples of best practice.
“The Roma benefit a lot from this program as they get the people who will be employed in the health care system and thus represent their community, while the community gains, too, as the picture about the Roma is changing and communication between the two communities is becoming both different and more positive”, Jelica Nikolić thinks.
Her colleague, dr Janko Janković, Assistant Professor of Social Medicine of the Medical School at University of Belgrade, who has been conducting the mentoring component and working with the scholars for over six years, also emphasizes the importance of the Roma Health Scholarship Program reminding that the education level of the Roma population is very low: ‘’Only 8 percent of the Roma have secondary education (which is five times less than the majority population) while just 0.3 percent have university education (which is 20 percent less than the majority population).
Education is one of the most important social and economic determinants that, actually, makes the difference and equalize the inequalities in the health care system between the Roma and the non-Roma population. It is well known that Roma life span is twenty years shorter than that of the majority population, that Roma infants die twice more often than the non-Roma ones.
The conditions, in which they live, poverty, social and economic aspects, actually contribute to such health condition. Thus, the significance of this Program for the education system is huge“, dr Janković emphasizes, highlighting also the Program importance for the health care system. ''The future health professionals can help their compatriots in the best way and the mission of the whole Program is that the students should be the agents of change inside the health care system. It means, to help as much as they can in breaking the prejudice, negative stereotypes and attitudes and to fight the discrimination and Roma rights violation....''
Despite the success made by this Program, the goal has not been achieved yet. As envisaged, RHSP shall be financed by the Fund for an Open Society until the end of 2018, and by that time, in order that this important inclusion project continues to ‘’live’’, it is necessary to find the partners who will take over the work of these four components.
“The initial idea was that this Program should monitor the first three generations, so that those who entered the Program are monitored until the end of their studies, which should be approximately by 2018. The Fund is trying to have this scholarship program institutionalized in a way, if it is possible at all. Hence, we have recently had the meetings with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and also with the Provincial Secretariats of the respective sectors, as well as with University and other concerned parties who could take part somehow, if not by supporting the whole program then at least by supporting some of its components’’, Jelica Nikolić says, and dr Janko Janković points out they do everything to ensure the project’s sustainability.
“We want to see if this can be taken over by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and to have it financed in future by the Government of Serbia, but also to find one or two partners at the faculties of medicine in Belgrade and Novi Sad who would carry on with the mentoring component, since the financial resources are slowly extinguishing”, dr Janković explains the ways how this important program could continue and have the Roma in Serbia improve their social and economic status.
RHSP WEB PLATFORM
Aimed at better presentation of the Roma Health Scholarship Program, a web platform has also been launched providing information about all the activities conducted within the scope of the RHSP project, in all four countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Macedonia).
Roma Health Scholarship Program (RHSP) is an international assistance project that has been supporting students and pupils for six years now in education in the fields of medicine, stomatology and pharmacy, at a university level and the level of high and secondary vocational schools. Within the scope of the public health program and in line with the Decade of Roma, this important project is financed by the Fund for an Open Society (FOSS), while Roma Education Fund (REF) carries out its scholarship component.
“This program is important for many reasons. First of all, there are very few Roma health workers. Some research works have indicated to an inconceivable discrimination in the health care system. Hence, the Fund for an Open Society as well as Roma Education Fund had many reasons to launch such a scholarship program”, Program Coordinator Jelica Nikolić says for “Danas”, emphasizing that the Program objective is not only to award scholarships, namely, to render financial aid to the students who want to be educated in the field of medicine, but also to provide additional forms of assistance and support through different components.
RHS Program, which has been conducted in Serbia since 2010, is implemented in four countries of the region (apart to Serbia, in Bulgaria, Romania and Macedonia) and consists of four components: scholarship component, mentoring, public advocacy and media component. It is important to mention that the scholarship component is realized by the Roma Education Fund (REF), mentoring is conducted by the School of Public Health, the Association of Roma Students from Novi Sad is involved in public advocacy and Media Centre engages in the media component.
“Exceptionally important is the component of public advocacy where our scholarship holders are taught how to, for instance, negotiate with the ministries, local self-governments and health institutions in order to be able to represent the Roma community interests, particularly in the field of health care. In addition, there is a mentoring component which is, as the students very often point out, the most important one for them, because their mentors are actually their university professors and for them it means, not merely an academic, but rather a psychological and an emotional support”, Coordinator Nikolić is explaining the significance of the Program highlighting that such work has up to now given good results, which are reflected in the fact that six scholarship holders have already completed the degree ‘’Bachelor of Medicine’’ and that a notable number of those who finished medical secondary and high schools have alreadygot a job. The problem is, however, that these good students and pupils do not always manage to find a job in Serbia, so they leave the country after they complete their education.
“Having in mind the situation of the health care system in our country, sometimes the students play from the very beginning with the idea of leaving somewhere abroad,” says Jelica Nikolić.
Yet, the Roma students and pupils staying in Serbia is exactly the right way to beak the prejudice and stereotypes in our society and show the examples of best practice.
“The Roma benefit a lot from this program as they get the people who will be employed in the health care system and thus represent their community, while the community gains, too, as the picture about the Roma is changing and communication between the two communities is becoming both different and more positive”, Jelica Nikolić thinks.
Her colleague, dr Janko Janković, Assistant Professor of Social Medicine of the Medical School at University of Belgrade, who has been conducting the mentoring component and working with the scholars for over six years, also emphasizes the importance of the Roma Health Scholarship Program reminding that the education level of the Roma population is very low: ‘’Only 8 percent of the Roma have secondary education (which is five times less than the majority population) while just 0.3 percent have university education (which is 20 percent less than the majority population).
Education is one of the most important social and economic determinants that, actually, makes the difference and equalize the inequalities in the health care system between the Roma and the non-Roma population. It is well known that Roma life span is twenty years shorter than that of the majority population, that Roma infants die twice more often than the non-Roma ones.
The conditions, in which they live, poverty, social and economic aspects, actually contribute to such health condition. Thus, the significance of this Program for the education system is huge“, dr Janković emphasizes, highlighting also the Program importance for the health care system. ''The future health professionals can help their compatriots in the best way and the mission of the whole Program is that the students should be the agents of change inside the health care system. It means, to help as much as they can in breaking the prejudice, negative stereotypes and attitudes and to fight the discrimination and Roma rights violation....''
Despite the success made by this Program, the goal has not been achieved yet. As envisaged, RHSP shall be financed by the Fund for an Open Society until the end of 2018, and by that time, in order that this important inclusion project continues to ‘’live’’, it is necessary to find the partners who will take over the work of these four components.
“The initial idea was that this Program should monitor the first three generations, so that those who entered the Program are monitored until the end of their studies, which should be approximately by 2018. The Fund is trying to have this scholarship program institutionalized in a way, if it is possible at all. Hence, we have recently had the meetings with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and also with the Provincial Secretariats of the respective sectors, as well as with University and other concerned parties who could take part somehow, if not by supporting the whole program then at least by supporting some of its components’’, Jelica Nikolić says, and dr Janko Janković points out they do everything to ensure the project’s sustainability.
“We want to see if this can be taken over by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and to have it financed in future by the Government of Serbia, but also to find one or two partners at the faculties of medicine in Belgrade and Novi Sad who would carry on with the mentoring component, since the financial resources are slowly extinguishing”, dr Janković explains the ways how this important program could continue and have the Roma in Serbia improve their social and economic status.
RHSP WEB PLATFORM
Aimed at better presentation of the Roma Health Scholarship Program, a web platform has also been launched providing information about all the activities conducted within the scope of the RHSP project, in all four countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Macedonia).