Obansk sdruen Vzjemn souit (Life together ) Education / obstacles in - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Občanské sdružení Vzájemné soužití (Life together) Education /obstacles in education

• f Roma children in the Czech

Republic

Situation in Ostrava in 2013 - 5 years after the D.H. case decision made by the European court of human rights

• the segregation of Roma children in Special Schools is

illegal, and violates the child’s right to quality education

• New term for schools
• Special school (in the past) = Practical school (nowadays)

90% Roma pupils attend those schools

Roma pupils are still being discriminated at Czech schools

• It is the ongoing practice to set up Roma and non-

Roma classes (pressure from Czech parents,..)

• A lot of pupils attend practical school since the

first grade at element. school (age d 6-7)

• Hyperactivity = handicap
• Pedagogical – psychological counselling (PPP)

chosen by schools

• Children placed to practical school instead of

support (tutoring)

• Roma/nowadays mostly non-Roma pedagogical

assistant serving as a cheap labour (replacing teachers in case of their absences etc.)

Elementary practical schools = special curriculum

• 90% Roma pupils at practical schools
• School leaving exam (after 9th, compulsory grade) –

information about the special curriculum

• Core subjects (CJ, MAT) taught 4 lessons a week only,

meanwhile PE or practical skills 4-5 times a week

• Some schools are registered and known as ordinary

school but have 2 different curricula (confusing)

• Little chance to catch up at secondary schools or

universities

• Very low chance to success when looking for a job

Parents and their children´s education

• Non-functioning/bad communication between

parents and schools (distrust, prejudice,..)

• Absence of knowledge of laws and parent´s rights
• Insufficient campaigns/actions promoting the

importance of education

• Parents are unable to find out if school is

common/practical (double curricula etc.), or understand the real differences and consequences

• Parents are not able to connect education of their

children at practical schools with low chances at the job market in the future (can not predict it)

Reasons for frequent absences of Roma children at schools, lower quality

• f their education
• Parents do not have money for snacks, food for

children at school (unemployed, on social benefits)

• Children do not get ready for school, do not do

homeworks (families often live in inadequate places – unsuitable conditions for learning)

• Some parents think: my elder son attends

practical school so the younger one will too (it is a problem for parents with more children to accompany them all to different, far away schools)

• Parents do not attend parent´s meetings at

schools (do not see the importance, do not trust school employees)

• Children and youths from isolated areas thus do not

have needed support and motivation for their education within the family

• Roma parents count on schools to take full

responsibility for their children during school lessons, on the other side they do not often believe that school will be of any asset for their children. This demotivating parent´s attitude then influences their children´s attitude to school and education in a negative way, too

• Demotivation of Roma toward education is also a

result of their constant denial at the job market or they think that school can make their child more distant from them

• Roma parents who themselves attended practical

schools, are unable to help (tutor) their children

D.H. case participants

• 18 children (parents nowadays), who fighted mainly

for justice and better future for their children

• Most are unemployed nowadays
• Training? To have it for free, only through the job

centre, possible employees require some practice, which they do not have

• More about the DH case and others vs CR – later
• Brochure

How Life together contributes to inclusive education/help children?

• Through constant (every day) support of school

children (aged 6 to 18) in the form of individual/group tutoring, counselling in our 3 community centrech for children and youth located in 3 Roma excluded areas in Ostrava

• Through constant (every day) support of pre-school

children and their mothers – practising all key competences for a succesful start at primary school, providing mothers with more competences, knowledge, confidence, independency, spreading this good practice among other local people

• Other projects

Community centres for children and youth Hrušov, Liščina, Zárubek

• 3 centres in Roma areas in Ostrava
• Open daily Mon – Fri (afternoon from 12 to 8pm)
• Each has 50 – 80 children + youths (aged 6- 18)
• Their mission
• support social inclusion and positive changes in way
• f life of children and youths endangered by some

negative aspects ( drugs, alcohol, parent´s poverty, high crime rate, social exclusion)

• Provide children with a safe and inspiring

enviroment for senseful spending of their free time (lots of educational, preventional, fun activities )

• To provide children support so that they may be able

to deal with difficult situations in their lives

• To prevent possible adoption of socially risky behave

patterns, way of life frequently seen in their surrounding, crime prevention, early pregnancy etc.

• Development of complex and individual talent, skills

(educational, social, practical)

• Support in the field of education (tutoring,

negotiating with school, pedag.assistants,..)

• Doing events at schools – lectures, sport

tournaments, promotion of our centres and services at schools, visits from schools to our centres ( common activities for all children)

• To provide children with equal chances in educ.
• School grants, paying fees at ZUŠ, fundraising for

talented children (school grants, paying the fee at art schools etc.)

• To root in Roma children and youth regular school

attendance and prepare for their future plans

• Adapting basic work skills and habits (with older

children) - acquiring more positive attitude to work, more independency and responsibility for the results

• f their work through various practical activities
• To support parents to motivate their children to get

proper education

Some of regular activities at our centres for children and youth

• Hand work – e.g. Eucanistika, sewing, production
• f bracelets, wrist bands, ear rings, lamps, xmas

decorations etc.

• Dancing and musical – e.g. Hip hop groups
• Sending talented kids to talent competitions etc.)
• Regular sport activities (football, table tennis,

gym, taking part in tournaments, international youth exchanges – e.g. We hosted young footballers from Kenya)

• Craft – wood work (products from wood)
• Hairdressing salon, manicure, art of decoration

etc.

• Tutoring (both individual and in groups)
• Tea room for relax, solving problems etc.

Current projects in the field of inclusive education

• 1. Project DH commemorating 5th anniversary

from the court decision, effort to change the

• ngiong practice, strengthen international,

national and local advocacy for implementation

• f the DH decision and inclusive education in

the Czech Rep.

• 2. Projects Little steps, I am a step forward

aimed at parents/pre-school children, both getting new, key skills, competences

• 3) Other projects supporting constant, regular

school children tutoring and support

• 1. DH project – Roma from Ostrava fight for

their empowerment, for equal access to inclusive education , changing the existing practices (2 key actions – the march and the conference )

Group of Roma people in Ostrava came with this idea that it would be good to empower themselves, not to rely

• n the others, but to do something on their own.
• At the 5th anniversary of the DH case court decision,

where the ECHR concluded, that 18 (at that time) school children were denied access to proper education (children were placed to special schools)

• 150 Roma people in Ostrava joined and realized a

peaceful march to show they do care for their children´s education and its quality

• The first public activity in this field from Roma parents

after DH case

• It has also proved Roma peole are able to organize

themselves and fight for a common goal, that they will not be passive anymore

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

• The Czech education system has historically excluded Romani

children and children with disabilities from mainstream education and marginalized them in segregated “special” schools and classes.

• The curriculum in these special schools and classes is
• substandard. The longer children remain in these classes, the

harder it is to catch up with mainstream peers and have a chance at getting a decent education.

• Such classes do not help children develop their talents and

abilities to their fullest potential, for either Romani children

• r children with disabilities.
• This system prepares these children for only the most menial

jobs, and for many, diminishes their long term opportunities for emerging from cycles of poverty and exclusion.

Landmark legal decision

• In 2000 (unsuccessfully already in 1999), 18 Romani

children from Ostrava challenged this system before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

• Seven years later, they won in a landmark judgment

which found that the education system in the Czech Republic indirectly discriminated against Romani children and violated their right to education.

• The Grand Chamber ordered the Czech government

to end the violation and redress, so far as possible, its effects.

• :CR launched a few strategies concerning inclusive

education (NAPIV, MŠMT strategy ), ombudsman reports

• - not very powerful

Five years on, nothing has changed

• In June 2012, the Czech Ombudsman found that

35% of children in “practical schools” (renamed from “special schools” after the D.H. judgment) were Romani children, even though they constituted approximately 2-3% of the Czech population.

• Children with disabilities also remain largely

segregated into “special schools” and mainstream schools often refuse to accept children citing resource constraints.

• Many

people do not see substandard and segregated schooling as an important issue.

• Many people do not know about the case and fight
• f

the Ostrava Roma for inclusive quality education. They have no knowledge and understanding

• f

the early statistics, the milestones in the fight – litigation efforts and field actions. Many have not met the children, now adults, who fought for their rights and those of their parents.

• There have been attempts by some NGOs to

integrate Roma children into mainstream, quality schools, but schools were unable to meet the child’s needs and provide adequate support. In effect, close to nothing is being done locally to implement the DH judgement and promote inclusive schools, offering quality education to all children in Ostrava.

Symbolicism in the march (from

Ostrava municipality to the Czech school inspectorate)

• Singing Roma anthem = expressing people´s

coherence

• Crosses and black wreaths – symbolic object

to point at the ongoing burial of hope for easier integration to the society

• Transparents with sayings STOP practical

schools, We are the same as the others, Stop segregation, We want inclusive education

• Lighted candles, posters of J. A.Komensky –

symbol of hope for a better future

Conference (11/2012)

• Initiative of our organization
• We managed a lot of important people to sit

together, learn more about the problem, discuss what have been done, and look for possible solutions together

• Present: parents, DH case participants, teachers

and headteachers, school assistants, field workers, CSI + MŠMT representatives, a lawyer,

• ther NGO´S
• Positive point – a lot of people see it as a problem,

are willing to discuss it and participate in finding solutions

The outcomes

Raised awareness and support for implementation of DH decision in Ostrava The establishment of an informal working group with the long term goal of realizing inclusive education in Ostrava municipality Agreement on an initial set of commitments for the future, with a time-line (being prepared) The outcomes sent to the media, the Lord Mayor and mayors

• f Ostrava districts, the Minister of Ed., the Human Rights

Commissioners (Czech and EU) the Regional government, the EC-DG Employment, DG Justice, among others. Strong media presence.

Some of the proposals for changing existing segregation, from the participants

• Parents joining school boards – to include them to

the school events, dcision making etc. – proposal from school teachers/directors

• Institutions responsible for running schools could

monitor the percentage of Roma pupils at schools to check the existing and prevent new ,,Roma schools/classes“

• Information campaigns for the parents (to be able

to realize the consequences when voluntarily placing their child to practical school without justifiable reason

Project I am a step further

• Main target – providing key competences for pre-

school children for succesful start at school

• The idea of this project was born many years ago, it

resulted from the need of the mothers, who did not have parental competences, a place where to provide their little children with appropriate pre-school education (absent/full facilities in Roma areas )

• Mostly mothers whose children were taken into

care/were in danger of being placed there

• Nowadays the project is successfuly developing and

realized by team Hnízdo (work with endangered children, families) and is unique in many ways:

• Our own educational plan is designed to teach

children basic habits and skills based on their real individual needs

• Accessible for mothers e.g. with more children

(in their natural environment)

• Families are given more confidence, both parents

and children acquire new key competences

• Active involvement of parents – they learn how

to learn with their children, positive influence on the others, experienced grandmothers share their experience Raising community spirit – support of mutual solidarity, loking for common agreements when solving the problems of the whole community

Mother´s and children´s club

• Aim – support pre-school children to be able to

start school successfuly

• Condition – active participation of both mothers and

children

• An experienced and respected mum and grandmum

from the community worked with children with the assistance of external pedagogue

• Parents financially partially contribute and prepare

together healthier children´s snacks Dissemination of good practice – our educational programme was positively rated by MŠMT

• Spreading it to other excluded areas in Ostrava
• It could serve as a base for pre-school care

programmes - systematic change

Particular goals:

• To strenghten the relations and bonds between

parent and child, among community members

• Support self-confidentce and independence of the

community (active participation – common decisions – e.g. about the landlords, layout of the flower beds etc.)

• To improve living conditions within the community

(building children playground, cultivating places around the houses, etc)

• Further develop our innovative educational

programme based on real needs

• Educate mothers from the community too – they

became experienced and responsible carers

How it looked like

Every morning (Mon-Fri, 8-12) an experienced grandma and mother from the community worked with other mothers who were interested in participation. They learned how to communicate with children, how to play with them, learn them to read, draw pictures, care about their toys and borrow them to others, not to harm the others, not to speak rudely, they learned about the proper hygiene. Examples of themes: Child and his body, Child and his psyché, language and speech, Child and the others, Hygiene, Regular morning getting up etc. Mothers fully joined the programme and 2 of them learned so much that they were suggested to become the responsible ones in another term of the project, which was also great reward for them

What we achieved:

• Regular attendance of 14 children in one area, 4 of

them successfuly entered grammar school (were in childrens homes, neither at home nor in any pre- school facility). Monitoring their further development, how they do at school. If needed = support

• Children got used to be proud to show their skills at

public

• Complex improvement within the family (parental

competences, positive influence on children, who can say thank you, can politely ask for something, can play with others, know hygienic habits, respect other people, can recognize colours, fruits etc.

• Successful project team consists of social workers,

field workers, mostly Roma (local people) who gained experience and skills in earlier periods of the project

• Outcomes – results so far have been very positive,

especiall when children nter primary school and do well

• They are active at school and look forward there
• Are not afraid, their creativity is higher, they less

express some emotional feelings , they are more independent and able to do the tasks

• Both children and parents adopt systematic, long-

term habit before they enter primary school.

• With the cooperation with schools it makes easier

for children to go well at school

• mothers became more independent, capable and

responsible in their children education