Quality Education for Vulnerable Groups
In poor Roma communities, many girls drop out of school early in order to help out in the household. This impedes their ability to complete their education, gain employment and be in control of their lives. In traditional Roma and rural communities girls generally marry and have children very young. A study carried out in 2002 by The Research Institute for the Quality of Life revealed that 66% of girls in Roma communities marry before the age of 18, and the number of pregnancies before that age has also increased in recent years. The parents do not have faith in the school and because of the hardships of transition, which has led to an increase in the unemployment rate, they cannot see a connection between schooling and getting a job. The Romanian curriculum needs to be improved from a gender-sensitive perspective, in order to reflect the realities of today’s world. As it is, the textbooks used in schools promote a “male” world, which results in girls being subjected to an inferior level. Romanian women are often still regarded as having a domestic role. The case of a well-spoken woman politician took on symbolic meaning for society when she was told by a male colleague in Parliament that her place was in the kitchen. ACTION UNICEF supports the preparation by local governments of strategies and networks that will improve access of Roma children to education. It is similarly involved in implementing a number of projects for Roma girls and boys that can be replicated elsewhere. Likewise, UNICEF is involved in the training of Roma and non-Roma teachers working in Roma communities. These teachers are trained in the Romany language about the history and traditions of the Roma Communities. In partnership with several NGOs, UNICEF has helped set up a number of education centers, introducing inter-cultural approaches and girl-friendly educational programmes. UNICEF has also contributed to the editing and printing of many materials used in schools, like the first literacy manual in the Romany language, a tri-lingual ABC book, a Romanian-Romany dictionary, and audio cassettes containing Roma fairy tales, and Roma history and traditions. An emphasis is being placed on the development of policies in education. Educational Priority Areas (EPA) is a comprehensive pilot project, designed and tested for the first time by UNICEF in partnership with the Institute for Education Sciences. The project targets disadvantaged communities, in which children are at risk of not attending school, aims to increase their access to education, and to decrease school drop-out. The project requires not only good facilities (labs, computers, etc), but puts an emphasis on good communication between schools and parents (by creating a resource centre where parents can get training) and between schools and the authorities. Teachers are trained to use inter-cultural approaches to education, with a special emphasis on Roma issues; the curriculum is compressed in order to make classes more attractive, get students to learn the essentials, and keep them interested in school. A meal is provided as an incentive to come to school. UNICEF has stressed the importance of changing the curricula and textbooks which presently have an unbalanced gender perspective of the world. Another priority is UNICEF support for the introduction of Child Rights in the primary and secondary school curricula, destined to provide children with information about their own rights, to prevent discrimination, and to encourage them to participate in the family, school and community decision-making process. In 2003, UNICEF launched the National Programme for Education on Democratic Citizenship, together with the Ministry of Education. This is a major innovation in the Romanian education system, and is dedicated to human rights in general, with a special emphasis on child rights. In 2003-2004, the project was implemented in Bucharest and in four counties, and UNICEF trained 240 teachers in these regions. Together with the Federation of NGO’s Active in Child Protection, UNICEF recently launched the national campaign entitled Leave No Child Out, which fights against discrimination. RESULTS • With assistance from UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and Research drafted a strategy to stimulate the participation of Roma children in education (2002).
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