Czech Republic: More than 40 % of Romani children do
not attend preschool
A
Open Society Fund Prague has supported projects aiming to
educate children from socially excluded communities, as a high
percentage of children from such communities do not attend preschool and their
families’ complicated situations lead to their children’s inadequate
development. Many children from socially excluded localities do not attend
preschool, which influences their lack of success in primary school. This
increases the probability that these children will be placed into special
education, newly termed the “practical schools”, where their chances at
education and at finding good jobs as adults come to an end.
B
“According to the Report on the State of the Romani Minority
in the Czech Republic more than 28 % of the pupils in the ‘practical schools’
are Romani. Those schools are intended exclusively for children with light
mental disability,” says Robert Basch of the Open Society Fund Prague. “Preschool
education, which can equalize the initial handicaps of children coming
from disadvantaged environments, is difficult for Romani children to access,”
Basch says. However, around 40 % of Romani children in the Czech Republic
never attend preschool.
C
One solution is to work with Romani children directly in
their homes and at parents’ centers, which can substitute state-run preschool
facilities. At the centers, children can perfect their language and speech
skills, train their attention, fine motor skills and memory, and
practice basic tasks such as using buttons and tying shoelaces. “Experience from programs abroad shows that the earlier
such work begins, the better chances such children have of becoming integrated
into mainstream education,” explains Filip Rameš of Open Society Fund Prague.
D
“In order for aid to Romani children to succeed, it must
also focus on their parents so they can manage to ensure their children enjoy
conditions for healthy development and are not exposed to the risk of social
exclusion in adulthood,” Rameš says. This intervention method is financially
the most advantageous. The highest
return on investment occurs with children under three.
E
These arguments were presented at a conference in Ostrava. The conference
was an opportunity to find a solution for preventing the repetition of the
discrimination of Romani children in the Czech schools, discrimination to which
the current generation’s parents were also exposed.
The conference was held by Open Society Fund Prague in collaboration with Ostrava City Hall and the Czech Government
Agency for Social Inclusion.
Adjusted to
(1)
shoelace –
tkanička
advantageous – výhodný
exposed – vystavený
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to
a paragraph.
1 Romani children might be educated at home or at
parents’ centres
2 Children from socially excluded localities do not
attend preschools
3 These solutions were spoken about at a conference
4 This method is financially convenient
5 More than a quarter of pupils in practical schools
are Romani
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1 What does Open Society Fund do?
2 What are problems of Roma children?
3 How can the problems be solved?
4 How can Romani parents contribute to the solution of
the situation?
5 What kind of conference took place in Ostrava?
3) Explain the following words and phrases.
1 children from socially excluded
communities
2 practical schools
3 equalize the initial handicaps of
children
4 fine motor skills
5 integrate into mainstream education
4) Answer the following questions.
What are socially excluded localities? What are their typical
problems? Who helps the people there? How does our school cooperate with Roma
children? What is the difference between mainstream and practical schools? How
are Roma preschoolers supported to attend mainstream schools?
Video:
Tips, sources of information:
http://goo.gl/LjIIcz
Source:
ALBERT,
Gwendolyn. Czech Republic: More than 40 % of Romani
children do not attend preschool. Romea [online]. 2014 [cit.
2015-09-20]. Available at:
http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-more-than-40-of-romani-children-do-not-attend-preschool
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