RHSP program is important for continuity of education at all levels
Angelina Skarep, an Independent Adviser in the Department for International Cooperation and European Integrations of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological DevelopmentThe Roma are the least educated community in Serbia. What does the government do and what, in general, can be done in order to change it in the forthcoming period?
I will specify some of the government’s activities:
- Provision of aid and support through pedagogical assistants; now, 175 assistants are engaged (35 at pre-school institutions and 140 at elementary schools).
- Availability of education without discrimination, adoption of the Rule Book for Recognizing Discrimination Forms in Education in regard of all target groups: pupils, teachers, parents;
-Drop-out decrease, scholarships for secondary school pupils and students: from the budget of the Republic of Serbia for excellent pupils, from the TARI Project (EU funds) for 520 secondary school pupils who are at the greatest risk of leaving education, the pupils whose average achievement /school success ranges from 2.5 to 3.5; drop-out prevention for all children at risk and drafting the activity programs that include prevention and intervention with UNICEF.
- Affirmative measures for enrolment of pupils at secondary schools on the basis of the new Rule Book on Roma Pupils Enrolment.
- Early development of children aged 3-5 years from vulnerable groups, drafting and piloting of diversified programs in the local communities that will help inclusion of the children at an early age and their parents into the pre-school education.
What is, in your opinion, the importance of RHSP projects in that aspect?
It is important for continuity of education at all levels, improvement of material conditions in which the young people live, provision of text books, equipment, fundamental conditions of existence, transportation and possibilities for professional improvement.
Ministry of Education approved of this project in the previous years, but, does the government have, in addition to verbal support, the possibilities to backup such scholarship programs in some other ways or to launch any of its own?
Scholarships for excellent pupils and students are being provided in continuity, while the funds for scholarships of other pupils who attend secondary schools are provided out of the EU funds for the next two years.
The government also provides a number of (guaranteed) budget places at the faculties for members of the Roma national minority. Is that number (and how big) sufficient and how does it contribute to the Roma community?
Certain number of places is reserved in relation to the quota and depending on the number of applications, from 2 to 4 percent. That number is insufficient, but it enables enrolment of the students under special, convenient conditions on the basis of affirmative measures. We know that when they finish schools, the Roma often have difficulties to get a job.
Does the government have any mechanisms to help overcome this problem, that is, to help employment of, at least, those with university degree, in this case of doctors, dentists, pharmacists…?
I don’t have enough data or knowledge about what the government does in the field of employment.
