AP VOJVODINA

Transcription

AP VOJVODINA

The Roma Decade
in
AP VOJVODINA
no. 1, january-february 2011.
A Monthly Periodical of The Roma Inclusion Office
AN INTERVIEW:
INTERVIEW:
dr Bojan Pajtić
WELL-KNOWN
PEOPLE::
PEOPLE
Trifun Dimić
A ROMA WOMAN BECAME
THE SECRETARY OF STATE
EDUCATION:
EDUCATION:
The only
way to success
A UNIQUE SPACE IN THE BALKANS:
BALKANS:
Roma library in Šangaj
The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina
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The International Roma Decade which was officially
launched in 2005 in Sofia represents the biggest project
on the international level dedicated to the Roma. The governments of central and south-eastern European countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain), in
which around 10 million of Roma people are living at the
economic and social margins of the society, have signed
this document.
The main goal of the Decade of Roma is the improvement of the position of the Roma in fields like education,
employment, housing and health. Certain documents and
action plans have been created, developed and carried out
so far that have directly influenced and initiated the improvement of the position of the Roma.
The Republic of Serbia has also become the part of
the International Roma Decade, wrote its own Strategy
for the Roma Integration and accepted the action plans
for education, employment, housing and health.
If we take into account the fact that the Decade has
been going on for the past six years and that, unfortunately, its results are not as visible and noticeable as it has
been expected that they would be, and that the Roma who
live in rural areas are not that informed about the things
that have been done in this field, the main goal of this
periodical is to introduce the local, provincial and international institutions and NGOs to the activities which are
being carried out in AP Vojvodina. The experiences in
solving specific problems in particular environments can
and should be used as examples for other environments
for solving the same or similar issues.
Today, we can proudly introduce the “vojvodina models” we use for solving the Roma issues because this
particular province has done the most for the integration
of the members of the Roma national community into the
society. Those are exactly the models and the information
that we would like to present to the public and to follow
and inform them about all the actions that are happening
or not happening within the Decade of Roma.
The Founder and the Published of the Periodical:
The Roma Inclusion Office of the Government of
AP Vojvodina
The Editor:
Duško Jovanović
The Editor of the Periodical:
Igor Dimić
The Team:
Jelena Jovanović
Dragana Dimitrov
Marija Petković
Ružica Nikolić
Jovana Davidović
Višnja Vujin
Roma Coordinators of APV
Vitomir Dimić, the photographer
Technical Preparation and Printing:
MAXIMA GRAF, Petrovaradin
maximagraf@802-group.net
Circulation:
1000
Address: Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 25,
21000 Novi Sad
The Team
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THE ROMA INCLUSION OFFICE
In 2010, the Office for Roma Inclusion founded by
the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina celebrated four years of its existence. The members
of the Office presented and talked about the results of its
work at the annual press conference held on December
30th 2010.
The Office for Roma Inclusion was founded by the
Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina
on May 24th 2006 with the main goal to contribute to the
position of the Roma people in the fields like education,
housing, employment, health, human and other rights and
as such it is unique and definitely first institution of that
type not just in the Republic of Serbia, but on the territory
of the entire Europe as well. The budget of the Office,
which makes it possible to achieve the inclusion of the
Roma in the social, public and the political life in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is provided by the Government of AP Vojvodina. The office is supervised by the
director, the administrative committee and the watchdog
committee who are appointed by the Government of the
AP Vojvodina. On the April 25th 2007, the Government
of AP Vojvodina appointed Duško Jovanović, a graduate
engineer of Agriculture from Tovariševo, as the director
of the office. There are five people currently working in
this office.
The activities of the office include implementation
and enforcement of the Strategy for the Roma integration
and the realization of the action plans on the teritory of
AP Vojvodina, coordination of the different projects for
the integration of the Roma in which the provincial departments are also involved. The office is also involved in
the realisation of the coordination with the National Council of the Roma Ethnic
Minority, the Council for
the intergation of Roma
in the AP Vojvodina and
some other international
organizations. Instigation
and the protection of the
human rights of the Roma
and the monitoring of the
integration of Roma national community are also
among the most important
goals of this office.
During the last four
years, the office carried
out numerous activities,
on its own or together
with the Council for Roma
Integration, provincial departments, local communities and NGOs. Activities and actions related to
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the education, employment and housing are among the
most important ones.
Activities of the Office which are related to Roma
inclusion in the field of education are focusing on providing support for the inclusion of Roma into the education
system. This includes providing help during the process
of gathering the necessary documents and providing the
students with the information about the possibilities of
applying for various scholarships and stipends.
Thanks to the application of the measures of the affirmative actions, the enrolment of Roma students into
high schools and colleges is strongly supported. In 2007,
151 students were enrolled into high schools and 27 into
colleges, in 2008 – 223 students were enrolled into high
schools and 94 were enrolled into colleges, in 2009, 78
students were enrolled into high schools and 43 into colleges. Last year, 94 students started attending high school
and 44 students started college. The government of AP
Vojvodina paid for the tuition fees of all Roma students
from its own budget. The result of this action is that today, there is no college in which Roma students are not
enrolled. A number of students even got the accommodation and monthly stipends. In order to increase the number of Roma children in different educational institutions,
the Office for Roma Inclusion gives stipends for the most
successful students.
The cooperation between the Office and the Matica
Romska and the Provincial Department of Education is
of great importance. The result of that cooperation is the
creation of the department for the education of the kindergarten teachers who will teach in the Roma language,
in the Academy for the Education of Teachers in Vršac.
In this way, for the first time in our country, there is a
possibility for the formal education of the Roma teachers
who will be teaching classes in their own language. The
long-term plan of this project is to increase the number
of Roma children in kindergartens and the improvement
of the education of Roma people. The office provided
the stipends for the best students, the future kindergarten
teachers, which are 5.000 dinars, and it also paid their
tuition fees. The expenses related to taking the entrance exams, the enrollment and
the supply of the textbooks are
covered by the office as well. In
the 2010, in the partnership with
the Fund for Development of AP
Vovodina, the Office donated the
computer equipment for this department.
As far as the activities related to housing are concerned, the
Office works with the local selfgovernments in order to provide
the necessery documents which
will solve the problems of the
unsuitable and unexisting infrastructure in Roma settlements.
Together with the Provincial
Department for the Architecture,
Urbanism and Engineering, Opovo municipality and Ecumenical
Humanitarian Organization of
Novi Sad, the Office the Roma inclusion carried out the project called The Improvement of
the Housing in the Third Roma Novo naselje in Opovo.
The local population got the necessary instructions, tools and materials for the construction of the two houses
which were given to the families that were the most socially and economically disadvantaged.
The four-year long project of the dislocation of the
insanitary Roma settlement from
the periphery of Sivac in Kula
municipality was realized in
2008 with the purchase of several
houses in Sivac. Thriteen houses
were bought in which all the inhabitants (and there were around
hundred of them) living in that
settlement were placed. In 2009,
the Fund for the Capital Investments and AP Vojvodina, provided the funding for the construction of the roads in Roma settlements in municipalities Odžaci,
Žabalj, Žitište, Kovin and Ruma.
In Žitište municipality, the problem of the water supply, which
affected around 400 Roma fami-
lies was solved. In 2010, three streets in the Roma settlement in Vršac were asphalted. With the help of the Fund
for the Capital Investments, the reconstruction of three
streets in Novi Bečej was also approved and carried out.
Currently, there is a plan for the pilot-project for illuminating the streets in Roma settlements which will run on
alternative energy sources.
The Provincial Secretary for Labour, Employment
and Gender Equality, Miroslav Vasin, Duško Jovanović
and Roma coordinator for the Srem region, Dušan Jovanović, met with Lars Eric Forsberg in Brussles, the assistant of the president of the European Comission for the
Expansion of the EU who is in charge of Serbia. During
that occassion, the representatives of the European Comission were introduced with the politics of solving the
problems of Roma in Vojvodina, as well as with the re-
5
sults achieved by the Office for Roma Inclusion related to
education, housing and employment. The representatives
of the European Comission pointed out that they support
the model for the Roma inclusion in Vojvodina, which is
completely unique in the entire Europe. During the meeting, there was a possibility that the project which will
provide the housing for 150 Roma families in Vojvodina
can be carried out. The European Union is ready to donate 6 milion euros for the realization of this partucular project. Dieter Schinzel was also present at that meeting, as
well as some representatives of German investitors who
work in the architectural field.
The Office for Roma Inclusion offered help to the
participants in the program related to giving the subventions for self-employment of the unemployed Roma. This
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program was initiated by the Provincial Department of
Labour, Employment and Gender Equality and the help
include the writing of the business plans and providing
resources for the expenses related to the accounting services in the duration of six months for all approved projects. So far, 50 firms whose owners are Roma have been
opened through this program.
A large number of different action plans related to
the education, health, housing and emplyoment have
been accepted because of the Decade of Roma Inclusion.
Their implementation is of great importance, especially on the local level. Roma coordinators, appointed by
the local self-governments, have a very important role
in the implementing and supervising the above-mentioned plans and programs. In 2010, the municipalities of
Pančevo and Stara
Pazova got their own
Roma coordinators.
Those people are the
link between the local government and
Roma people. Based
on the recent results,
thanks to these people a large number
of questions and issues present in Roma
communities
have
been successfully solved. On the territory of AP Vojvodina,
Roma coordinators
are present in 23 municipalities. In March
2010, the Office for
Roma Inclusion, held
a meeting with Roma
coordinators from all
the municipalities related to the selection
for the Roma National Council. Three seminars for the
Roma coordinators were held in order to improve the quality of their work and achieving better results.
The activities related to the employment do not seem
to stop. Since last year, one Roma woman, who is actively involved in the work of the Office, has been working
at the Community Health Center in Inđija
The Office also cooperates with various NGOs. The
Office for Roma Inclusion, together with the Matica Romska and the Union of the NGOs Dekada Roma, funded by
the Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Communities, organized the donors`
conference aimed at the improvement of the position of
Roma people in the AP Vojvodina. The participants of
this conference were the representatives of the embassies
of Hungary, Italy and Germany, the representatives of
USAID, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Health Organization,
Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, The Open Society Fund, Citizens` Initiatives, Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of AP Vojvodina. The
aim of this conference was to provide the funding for the
projects dedicated to the improvement of the situation of
Roma people in Vojvodina. During the conference, the
projects related to education, employment, housing, health, sports and the development of the Roma community, which were written by the Provincial Secretariat for
Regulations, Administration and National Communities
and the Roma NGOs, were presented.
The Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Communities gave 2 milion dinars
for the actualization of the affirmative measures and pro-
cesses for Roma Integration and the continuation of the
Roma Decade in 2008. It was also possible to organize the Donors` conference and help the activities of 64
Roma NGOs who were working on the projects which
they later presented at this conference. The Office for
Roma Inclusion organized seminars for the strengthening
of the capacities of Roma NGOs and for making them
more skilled and competent for writing the project proposals based on the EU model.
One of the numerous activities organized with the
help of the local NGOs was the field trip to Bucharest,
from May 10th to May 14th, which was organized in collaboration with the Matica Romska. During the trip, the
students visited the Department for the Roma Language
at the University of Bucharest and the Ministry of Education.
During the last year, as the result of the collaboration
between the Office, Matica Romska and the City Library
from Novi Sad, a small library Trifun Dimić which is the
first Roma library in Europe, was opened in Šangaj, a
part of Novi Sad.
“The Office for the Roma Inclusion has always had
modest requests but it nevertheless managed to achieve
great results with them. This is most certainly, one of its
best qualities”, said Miroslav Vasin, the Provincial Secretary of Labour, Employment and Gender Equality, on the
annual conference and summed up the work of the Office
in only one sentence.
Romeo Mihajlović
7
Interview: the President of the Government of AP Vojvodina, dr Bojan Pajtić
HOPE LIES IN YOUNG AND EDUCATED PEOPLE
In this interview, dr Bojan Pajtić expressed his opinion about the situation of the Roma national community
in AP Vojvodina. He also talked about the results that
have been achieved so far and about programs and projects that have been carried out in order to improve the
educational and socio-economic situation of the Roma.
Pajtić also discussed the further plans related to these
issues which will continue to focus on the same problems
the Roma are currently facing.
We have been living in really difficult times, but you
always emphasize that this fact actually represents a kind
of a challenge for you and your team. Is the global financial crisis affecting the quality and the efficiency of
solving the problems of Roma national community?
It is more than obvious that the global financial crisis
is affecting the whole world and our country as well, but
this fact cannot serve as an excuse not to invest maximal
efforts and maximal energy, not to come up with some
new ideas and programs and to try to solve the current
issues and problems. We have come up with a variety of
different programs in order to improve the social and educational status of Roma national community. For us, the
Decade of Roma is extremely important. However, we
have started a variety of different programs on our own,
before the Decade, which mainly focused on breaking of
the vicious circle which prevents the Roma from getting
a better education because they cannot afford it and living better because they are not educated. It is important
to emphasize that we have, in the past four years, through
various positive action measures, managed to help over
200 Roma students to enroll into the University of Novi
Sad. We helped them enroll into university and we also
helped them get the accommodation in student’s residence halls. Since this national community has an extremely
difficult social status, an additional support is needed in
8
order to motivate the talented children who want to and
are ready to study, to complete their studies and get their
degrees.
We have also initiated several programs for employment of the young people who graduated from their colleges. Some of them are able to get internships and even
jobs at the Provincial Government and the institutions
in which it is of great importance to know the language,
customs, traditions and the culture of Roma people. The
others have had an opportunity to take part in different
programs for employment, through which we financed
the opening of 50 businesses whose owners are the Roma.
And that is not all.
Together with some foreign investors, we want to
increase the number of the Roma who will be able to get
decent jobs and to lead normal and better lives in the 21st
century. In partnership with German investors and the
Šid municipality, we managed to reach an agreement related to the future employment of the people belonging to
Roma population, where the German investors would be
the employers. We want to solve the Roma issues and we
think this is the right way to do this. On one hand, we want
to solve the issues through education. Three hundred and
fifty five stipends have been given to Roma students who
attend high schools. These students also have their own
personal mentors who help them with their education and
who prepare them to get ready to enroll into universities.
There are over 200 students that make us extremely proud and that will set the foundations for the Roma national
community in Vojvodina and who will do their best in
order to make things better for their entire.
The model used for solving the Roma issues and
problems is seen as extremely good and efficient on the
international level. Have we managed to come up to the
expectations that have been invested on us by the Provincial Government? Are you satisfied with the results?
We have received a lot of praise for this specific model from European institutions, United Nations and large
number of other relevant institutions. I am sure we are
doing a better job at solving this problem than some other
European countries. We are determined to integrate the
Roma community into society and to help this community improve its social status but we also want to make sure
that it will not lose its own identity at the same time. We
want to achieve the goal of making the Roma not social
but exclusively ethnical category. Young and educated
people are working at the Roma Inclusion Office, that we
founded, and in the majority of municipalities all around
Vojvodina we have appointed Roma coordinators who
are also educated. A Roma woman, Slavica Denić, who
became the State Secretary in the Ministry for Human
and Minority Rights has taken part in a similar process.
There are more and more young people today who get
jobs in State institutions. Today, we have judges, who are
Roma, people who are employed in the Provincial administration who are Roma, journalists who are Roma, etc.
The similar situation is happening in a large number of
different fields and it seems that the creative potential and
the energy of the young members of the Roma national
community are finally awakening.
Apart from that, through the Fund for the Capital Investments we managed to provide 300.000.000,00 dinars
for the improvement of the situation of the Roma. This
money has been spent for asphalting the roads in Roma
settlements and on reconstruction and the purchase of
houses. We have directed this money to municipalities
Sivac, Opovo and many others. It is clear that without the
improvement of the lives of the members of the Roma
national community we cannot become a civilized society. The people like us who work in the public sector have
an obligation to make sure that all citizens have the same
rights and have the same possibilities to work and advance in their carriers. Members of one national minority
cannot be judged and discriminated against just because
they belong to different national minority. In this sense,
there is a noticeable difference in the field of education
and employment between the Roma and the members of
some other nationalities who live in this region. I refuse
to accept this fact and so do my coworkers, and we are
definitely going to insist on including a large number of
young Roma in the education system and to encourage
them to become active members in their communities and
not forget who they are after they graduate. I have pointed out in several different occasions that they have to do
their best in order to support the rest of their community
and to explain to the people who have not been that lucky
or talented to go to college how important being educated
really is and how they can improve their social, financial
and health status. According to some statistics, only one
out of 100 Roma reaches the age of 60 which a devastating information. We have to try and do our best in order
to change this statistics and to improve the position of
the Roma. Apart from the programs mentioned above, we
have also developed some other programs that focus on
providing the short-term solutions. Through some public
programs we have managed to provide jobs for hundreds
of Roma who are now able to provide for their families.
How important it is to solve the problems that exist
on the local and higher levels with the help of the various institutions which will be there to control, supervise
and make sure that the solutions to those problems are
better and more efficient? What is being achieved by actively following the educational process of Roma children?
What has been done for the education of Roma children
and what are the results?
We give stipends to Roma high school students,to
the students who are enrolled into some vocational schools and to all of those who are attending specific school and who
are planning to go to college after
they graduate. It is necessary to
oversee that entire process and
to make sure that the process is
being stimulated by someone and
not just left on its own, because if
that happens, it would be unsuccessful.
How is that (the success of
the project) achieved?
It is achieved by a body of
mentors that we hired, who are
paid to look after those students,
to help them during their process
of education, to follow their development and to direct them
towards specific direction. The
results of this program are extra-
9
is that the Roma people tend to feel some kind of a resistance towards the educational institutions, and they do
not trust these institutions at all. A large number of children have been growing up outside of that system. The
presence of the Roma people inside that system, at those
institutions will definitely improve the entire situation.
The mentoring system has been extremely successful and
I think that it has been situated at the right place, because the young people in high schools need extra support
in order to continue their education and start working as
professors, managers, etc.
ordinary and we have a large number of successful students. Since we started with these measures in 2007, I
expect that this year and the next year we are going to
have a significant number of young people who graduate.
They will fight for their own place in the society, they will
be able to get decent jobs and they will be able to move
the entire Roma community from the standstill, even though some very important steps have already been made.
What is important to emphasize is that the education does
not start in high school, it actually starts long before that.
That is why we opened a special department at the Vocational College in Vršac where the students are educated
to become the teachers in Roma language. We want to direct the young people since their early age to realize that
it is only through education and hard they can achieve
something in their lives. It is not possible to do the same
thing with the old people, but we need to do that with the
children and the young people. Just because of that we
have started to focus on the youngest, who are in kindergartens, and we continued with those who are attending
colleges. This kind of program cannot fail to give results
and to push the entire community forward. If you look
at the entire Roma question in a more analytical manner,
the social problem of the Roma is more of an educational
problem and it can only be solved through the process of
education.
The University of Novi Sad is your partner in creating
Roma intellectual elite. In what ways has the University
helped the realization of the Roma inclusion program?
This is called the politics of the equal opportunities
and I am extremely satisfied to see that the University of
Novi Sad, which has been founded by the Province, is doing its best to enable the realization of this program. I am
also satisfied with the work of the previous dean Radmila
Marinković Nedučin, and the current dean Miroslav Vesković since the University is one of the most important
instrument in the realization of this program. Through
free master’s and doctoral studies we want to complete
the process of creation of Roma intellectual elite because if we have more Roma people working as professors
at universities, high schools and elementary schools, the
other Roma people will decide to educate their children
in institutions like these. A problem related to education
10
By adopting the strategy of the politics of possible
equal opportunities, You and your team have influenced
the appointment of the Roma to working positions in both
legislative and executive governments on various levels.
In that way you send out the message that all national
minorities are equal. The problem has to be solved with
dialogue, hard facts and valid arguments.
That is right. We founded the Roma Inclusion Office
because I noticed our need for a specific institution which
will look into the problems of the Roma community. The
problems of this specific community are greater than the
problems of some other communities. The people who
work at the Roma Inclusion Office are members of the
Roma community, they finished their colleges through
the affirmative action program, they are energetic, full
of interesting ideas and they most certainly are the ones
who know the best how to identify problems related to
their community.
For the first time in the world has the member of the
Roma national community been elected as the representative in the legislative government. What are we trying
to promote with this?
Mr Duško Jovanović is the deputy and the president
of the Roma national council at the Provincial parliament.
His presence there is needed and necessary when certain laws, decisions and institutions are being created. In
this way, the Roma are directly influencing the decisions
that are being made and the changing of those decisions,
so that the institutions will be, from the very beginning,
more focused on the needs of the Roma community.
In Vojvodina, a large number of different national
minorities are living toghether in harmony. The Provincial government has even established the Provincial Council for the International Relations. What is the main
function of this Council?
That is right. We have established this institution, the
Council of the National Communities which is supposed
to be some kind of a control mechanism. This means that,
during the process of making of the decisions which are
important for the identity of the national minorities, a certain document can be signed so that it corresponds to the
needs of that community. A Council like this one does not
exist anywhere in Europe.
With our politics which focuses on establishing good
international relations, we manage to attract various investments and investors.
I had an opportunity to talk to the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Politics and Inclusion,
which focuses on employment and other problems of
some marginalized communities. During that occasion,
I talked about the things we had done for the Roma in
our country and he was fascinated. I asked for his help
in getting financial support for these projects. It is certain
that we will insist, through the Roma Inclusion Office
and the Provincial Government, on getting one part of
the European donations and directing it towards the programs and projects that are going to be applicable not just
in Vojvodina, but in some other regions, too.
We also need to mention that due to the difficult
financial situation we are currently facing a lot of problems. We know that there are not enough resources in
the budget and that there are the need to focus on some
other fields and aspects. We attract the investments with
our politics of the good international relations, the politics of quality and efficiency and with the people who
understand Europe, European models and standards. To
what extent has Vojvodina showed that it possesses the
right people, understanding for certain issues and situations and clearly defined goals?
Apart from the 50 business that have been established by the Roma, we had the chance to talk to some
German investors, who want to invest their money in Vojvodina. They have mentioned huge amounts of money,
but the thing that is important is that, through the Roma
Inclusion Office and our Roma representatives they found out about Vojvodina and decided to invest in this area
and also to hire the Roma.
Does this guarantee that
those resources are going
to reach the Roma who live
in rural areas and that they
are going to be beneficial for
them as well? Can the position of the Roma be changed
over night?
This is certainly a good
indicator that things are definitely moving forward. I am a
huge optimist when it comes
to Roma national community,
not just related to the foreign
investments but also related
to the programs that we are
planning to carry out. What
I want to emphasize is that a
difficult situation like this one
is the result of the problems
that exist for centuries. It is
not possible to make drastic
changes in just a couple of years, but I am certain that
we will manage to change a lot of things in the following
years. We also want to achieve in making Roma national
community, in 10 or 15 years time, a community which
will be closely resemble some other communities in both
social and educational aspects.
You also work as the professor at the University of
Novi Sad. What message would you like to send to all of
those parents who are thinking about including their children into the educational process on all levels?
I would like to tell them that it is not possible to prosper and make any kind of progress without education
and that it is not possible to have a better future without
education. The thing I would also like to add is that we
take care of their children who are going to have a more
perspective future after they finish their education. The
children have to go to school, they have to get a proper
education and take advantage of all the possibilities that
are offered to them.
You have studied law. Do you still study and try to
improve something about yourself?
You always have to try to improve something about
yourself and the people who do not even try to do this
cannot make any progress. You can only make progress
or make your situation even worse, there is no such thing
as stagnation. Only those people who have no ambitions
what so ever are making their lives even worse than they
really are, and I think this should be the main idea of this
interview.
Petar Miler
11
THE FIRST ROMA WOMAN TO BECOME
THE SECRETARY OF STATE
The Ministry for Human and Minority Rights of the
Republic of Serbia has appointed the member of the Roma
national minority, Slavica Denić, as the State Secretary
In coordinance with the aims and goals of the Decade of Roma Inclusion and the priorities related to the
inclusion the members of the Roma national minority
into the work of the state institutions, The Government
of the Republic of Serbia has passed a decision about the
appointing mr Slavica Denić into the place of the Secretary of State within the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights. By appointing Slavica Denić, a huge step was
made in the implementation of the Decade of Roma and
the national action plans, which the government of the
Republic of Serbia has passed in April 2009.
Slavica Denić was born on August 24th 1977 in Niš.
She graduated at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad
and got the title of the professor of Philosophy. She received her M.A. at the University of Novi Sad in 2010 at
the Center for the Multidisciplinary Studies (ACIMSI)
with the paper “Management in Education and the Integration of Roma Children”. Currently, she is pursuing her
PhD at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad at
the department Industrial Engineering and Management.
Since 2005, she has worked as a journalist at the RTV
Vojvodina. She is also the member of the executive bo12
ard of the Roma Inclusion Office in AP Vojvodina and
she has also participated in the projects funded by the
government of AP Vojvodina related to the education of
Roma children.
The representatives of the Roma national community
have, so far, pointed out that the biggest problem related
to their community is the inability to reach the state resources, which is the consequence of the weak cooperation
with the state institutions. NGOs from all around Serbia
have talked with Svetozar Čiplić, the minister for the Human and Minority Rights of the Republic of Serbia about
this problem and pointed out the fact that the poverty of
the Roma population had never been bigger. During this
meeting, it was obvious that the state institutions were
completely uninterested in solving the problems of the
Roma population. The Roma Civilian Sector especially
pointed out the inability to realize the action plans on the
local level as well as the budgeting for some programs
that belong to the Decade of the Roma Inclusion. As a
consequence, a large number of Roma families, especially from the southern part of Serbia, are leaving the country and going to some other European countries, in search
of better life and material status.
Minister Čiplić has invited the Roma organizations
to send their projects through the newly appointed secretary Slavica Denić, and the Ministry for Human and
Minority Rights will check the first results of this type
of communication in April. He also said that experiences
and the results from Vojvodina where the European politics towards the Roma has been fully realized should be
present throughout the entire territory of Serbia.
The main task of Slavica Denić is going to be the
work of the National Council of the Roma National Minority in Serbia and the implementation of the Decade of
the Roma Inclusion. She also emphasized that the young
and educated people represent the necessary support and
strength and that they should use the opportunity to publicly show that they are the people that can be counted
on. The intellectual elite should become the important
factor during the cooperation with the international institutions within the process of the implementation of the
Decade of the Roma. “In order to carry out both the Decade of the Roma and the inclusion much faster and more
efficiently, we need to have team work and transparency”
said Slavica Denić and added that “within these processes, the new, responsible politics of the Roma community
should be promoted”. She has also emphasized the fact
that the Roma are one of the biggest but also one of the
most threatened communities in Europe and that the poverty and the high percentage of unemployment, discrimination, stereotypes, the low percentage of education
and bad health care are making their position even more
dramatic.
According to some surveys on the local level, 78% of
the Roma population is illiterate, only 17.2% finishes elementary school, 4.6% finishes high school and only 0.2%
receives a college degree. The data also show that around
24% of the Roma children do not have the access to basic food (like milk and dairy products) and 40% of them
do not eat fruits and vegetables. More than 600 Roma
settlements are lacking the elementary living conditions.
These are just some of the factors due to which just one
out of 100 Roma manages to live up to 60 years.
As her main task, being the Secretary of the State in
the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Slavica Denić points out the work related to education, especially in
carrying out the Affirmative Action Measures in a more
quality way. Then, there is the giving of stipends to the
best Roma students and paying for the master’s and doctoral studies, at both private and state colleges in order
to include more Roma students into the institutions of the
Republic of Serbia. “It is necessary to form a team for
writing the projects and programs with which we will be
able to apply for some international funds and to initiate
the donor`s conference on which the best projects related to the self-employment and the development of the
small and medium-sized businesses will be presented in
the presence of the Board of the International Decade, the
embassies, MMF, World Bank, the employers and the investors”, said the State Secretary and added that “the solving of the problems of the unhygienic Roma settlements
is necessary and it requires, apart from the funding, the
cooperation between various institutions, the local community and the inhabitants of these settlements”. Slavica
Denić also emphasized the importance of removing all
the ways of forcing and the acceptance of the local people
to accept living with the Roma.
According to Slavica Denić, the focus should also
be put on the process of the readmission, the displaced
and exiled people to whom we should be able to offer
the models for the solution of the housing and socio-economic issues, together with the international community
and the countries in which they are currently living. She
also pointed out that the legally invisible people represent
a big problem that needs to be solved quickly and more
efficiently by making a network between the local selfgovernment, Roma coordinators, police, representatives
of the European Union and the United Nations.
These are the biggest problems that the Roma community is currently facing and in order to solve them there needs to be a coordination, cooperation and dialogue
between the institutions of the Republic of Serbia, the representatives
of the Roma and the international
community whose participation
is of great importance. “However,
appointing a Roma woman on the
position of the State Secretary is
definitely a sign of good will and it
is most certainly a good start”, the
State Secretary has pointed out and
sent a message to the young people
that the education is the only way
out of the vicious circle of poverty
and misery.
Petar Miler
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The famous Roma: Trifun Dimić
LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS
He had spent days and nights reading and studying,
sacrificing his health, in order to improve the lives of the
Roma people. The Roma national society inherited a priceless fortune. The life and work of this man was dedicated solely to it.
Trifun Dimić was born on 29.02.1956 in Gospođinci
but he lived and worked in Novi Sad as an advisor for
Kulturno-prosvetne zajednice Vojvodine.
He dedicated his entire life to the Roma culture and
language, and he especially focused on the cultural emancipation of Roma. His contribution to the development
of the Roma culture and language is immense, he was a
well-known romologist. The numerous works he wrote
during his lifetime belong to different genres and deal
with various topics. He most certainly paved the way for
the generations of Roma whose time is yet to come.
Just like Vuk Karadžić did with the Serbian oral tradition, Trifun Dimić did the same with the Roma oral tradition. He collected Roma oral tradition and published
a collection of poems called Dolazeći sa vašara in 1979
and a book entitled Kletve, zakletve i blagoslovi Roma
in 1984. In 1986, he published two collections of poetry Narodna romska poezija and Vreme samoće. His sketch
Sveta Petka od Epivata do Jaša was published in 1996.
Some of his poems were also included in the anthology
of love poems Dodir snova (which was edited by Pavel
Gajtancu) and the world anthology of love poems (which
was edited by Pero Zubac).
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Trifun Dimić set the foundations for and started developing language, literature and the culture of the Roma.
Apart from the Roma oral tradition, he was also interested in religion. In 1987 he published the translation of
the Song of Songs from the Old Testament and in 1991 he
published the translation of the New Testament.
One of his most important translations is definitely
the translation of Biblijsko petoknjižje which was published by the SPC Beseda publishing house in 1997. In
1993, after he had received blessings and the accord of
the bishop dr Irinej Bulović, he translated a church-book
called Služebnik. Thanks to that particular translation, on
April 8th 1993, for the first time in world history Božanstvena Liturgija Svetog Jovana Zlatoustoga was conducted in the Roma language at the Saborna church in Novi
Sad. The last religious service Liturgija Svetog Jovana
Zlatoustoga, composed by Zoran Mulić from Novi Sad
was conducted in the Roma language on October 12th
2010 and it was performed by the best and the oldest choir in the world, the Academic Chapel Choir Glinka from
St.Petersburg (Russia). Dr Bojan Pajtić, the president of
the Government of AP Vojvodina was also present at this
religious service.
So far, in both Novi Sad and Belgrade, eight religious services were conducted. Dimić also translated the
The Qur`an which remained unpublished.
He wrote poetry, prose, philosophical and historical
studies. Among his published works is a collection of poetry Bože, pogubi one drumove published in 1993, the
textbook Pismenica published in 1995, Ep o Gilgamešu
published in 1996, Tradicijska romska književnost u Vojvodini published in 1997, Stopala u prašini published
in 1998 and many others.
Trifun Dimić was also a renowned journalist and an
initiator of the radio shows on the Roma language on the
Novi Sad Radio. He was also the initiator and the editor
of the journal Romologija, which first appeared in 1989
and was written in both Serbian and Roma language. A
journal called Alav e Rromengo, published by Društvo
Vojvodine za jezik i književnost Roma (which he founded and held the position as it president), which appeared
in 1994 and which mainly focuses on Roma literature and
culture was also initiated by Dimić.
Društvo Vojvodine za jezik i književnost Roma published the works written by the Roma who lived on the
teritory of Yugoslavia, like Gordana Đurić, Predrag Jovičić, Jovan Nikolić, Alija Krasnići, Slavomir Stojkov, Jovan Bogdanović, Zvezdana Lazić, Ranko Jovanović and
many others.
Trifun Dimić founded Matica Romska and was its
president until his death. While he was working in Ma-
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tica Romska, he particularly focused on and paid special
attention to the development of the Roma language and
culture. He managed to achieve most of the goals he had
set, and there are still some other goals that are waiting
to be achieved by his colleagues and friends. The field of
education was also the field in which Trifun Dimić left
his mark. He made a lesson plan for the subject called
“The national culture and language of Roma” which was
approved by the government of the Republic of Serbia
and the Ministry of Education on November 9th 1998,
and in 2000 the first “Bukvar” (the first alphabet book
the children use when they start elementary school) was
published in the Roma language.
Trifun Dimić was also the creator and the editor of
the multi-cultural magazine “Most” which was published
by Cultural and Educational community of Vojvodina in
1994.
After he had prepared the textbooks, Dimić set out
to educate the Roma teachers who would hold lectures
on the Roma language. The elective courses on the Roma
language started in 1996 on the territory of Vojvodina
and 72 elementary school students were included, first
in Obrovac and Tovariševo and than in some other towns
all over the province. The students who attended these
classes were able to learn something more about their
native language and they were also better prepared to
understand the things they learn at school. These elective
courses that Trifun Dimić organized represented the first
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institutionalized classes on the Roma language in the Republic of Serbia.
During his entire life Trifun Dimić was led by his
wish to help his own people. He wanted to give his own
contribution and to break the vicious circle of poverty
and illiteracy. Some of the things he had said, even became proverbs: “We are illiterate because we are poor, and
we are poor because we are illiterate”.
Trifun Dimić died on September 13th 2001. He was
only 45 years old. One of the streets in Novi Sad is named
after him, as well as one school in Montenegro and one
street in Gospođinci.
On January 25th 2005, in the Cultural Institute of
Vojvodina in Novi Sad a memorial was founded dedicated to the life and the works of this remarkable man.
On that occasion, a memorial conference called „Trifun
Dimić” took place, during which a monograph entitled
“Trifun Dimić – A Romologist” was presented.
The international festival of children and youth as
well as one library in Novi Sad were also named after
him.
During his short life, Trifun Dimić managed to achieve more than anyone who studied the Roma language and
culture. He dedicated his entire life and his health to his
people, working constantly and unselfishly for their benefit and wellbeing.
Petar Nikolić
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Biljana Nikolić
EDUCATION – THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
Being educated is the only way to achieve success
and it is high time young people and their paretns realized that. Today, it is a privilege to be a Roma and to
live in Serbia. The Roma students, unlike their other colleagues who do not belong to the Roma national community, have a large number of benefits which help them
during their years in college. These benefits are for them
to use and to make the best of them, so why would they
just ignore them?
Ms. Biljana Nikolić is a Roma who showed her determination to be well-educated and who took advantage
of the benefits which were offered to her. She is one of the
three Roma who received the scholarships given by the
Provincial Government based on the agreement between
the Government of AP Vojvodina and The University of
Novi Sad, according to which four best students of this
University were given scholarships. After graduating, she
started working at the Administration for Joint Services
of the provincial agencies. In this interview, Mrs Nikolić
talked about her education, about her successes and about
the obstacles that she had encountered along the way.
Can you tell us something about the beginnings of
your education?
I went to an elementary school in Silbašu and in the
school year 2000/2001 I enrolled into High School of
Economics in Bačka Palanka. After high school, I enrolled into The Faculty of Law, at the Domestic Commerce
department where I graduated in 2010.
Why did you choose The Faculty of Law?
As a child, I was always called “the lawyer” because I always talked on behalf of the others and defended
them. I enrolled into this particular faculty because it seemed interesting to me. I have wanted to enroll into this
faculty since high school, although my parents were not
happy about that because of the possibility of getting a
job in the police department. I actually think that they,
especially my mother, were extremely happy after I had
got the job at the Administration for Joint Services.
What was the thing that motivated you to study and
get a good education?
I think it is the only way to succeed in life, not just
for the Roma, but for the other people as well. For us,
being educated was the only way out of misery and poverty. It is of great importance to acknowledge the significance of schooling and education, and our parents have
to be aware of this fact too, so that they will direct their
children towards the educational institutions and support
their wish to be educated.
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Did you have the support of your family?
During my entire education, I had an immense support of my family and I think that this actually helped me
a lot. They were always by my side, during the good and
the bad times. I also think that sometimes, they had much
harder time than I did, because they also felt and experienced each and every of my exams and anxieties like it
was their own. My degree is theirs too, and I would use
this opportunity to thank them for believing in me.
Have you ever been discriminated against?
There were some instances of that, while I was younger, but I left all those things behind now and I do not
want to remember them. I achieved the goals that I set
and in that way I proved myself to the people who doubted in me and who underestimated me.
Being a student means having to pay a lot money for
the tuition fees and some other expenses. How did you
manage to solve the financial issues?
I used those measures during my education - I enrolled into my freshman year in college through those measures which included financing of my education from
the state budget, the accommodation in residence halls
and a monthly stipend. If it had not been for those measures, I would not have enrolled into college in the first
place nor would I have managed to finish it. We were
given the best conditions for getting a quality education,
You started working in the Provincial Government
immediately after getting your degree. Are you satisfied
with your job?
I am extremely happy with it and who would not
be?!? I am a Roma woman who got the job right after she
graduated, some of my colleagues can only dream about
this. I have a highly responsible working place and I have
proved that the Roma can also work at that places. The
times when the color of your skin determined your position at work have passed. A time of education has begun
and the Roma have to take advantage of all the benefits
that are offered to them during their education. They have
to use this chance!
and all we had to do was study, pass our exams in time
and enroll into the next year of studies. Actually, we had
to justify the trust other people had placed in us. I am
really glad that nowadays a large number of students is
using these measures, since when I started college, only
four of us were using them.
You have achieved a huge success. This certainly involves a lot of sacrifice.
There was a lot of sacrifice and it was the price that
I was ready to pay so that I would be able to be proud of
everything that I achieved up to now. I knew that my life
was going to be hard if I was not educated. I sacrificed
just six years of my life, which is not that much, since I
am going to enjoy the results of my hard work until the
end of my life. I forgot all the unpleasant and difficult
situations. The praise I got from my teachers and my degree are the perfect examples that all of my effort was not
pointless.
How did your colleagues accept you?
I have already known the people that I am working
with right now, since I had a one-month internship at the
Government of AP Vojvodina with them. They gave me
a great welcome and I did not experience any type of
discrimination. I spend the majority of my day working
with these people and they have become the essential part
of my life. My colleagues are there to point me at the right direction and I am always ready to learn new things.
What is the importance of the employment of the
Roma in state institutions?
It is extremely important to show that simply because we are the members of the Roma national community,
are abilities are not disregarded. Only when non-Roma
people accept a Roma as a teacher, health care worker,
inspector and director, we can say that the Roma integration has been achieved. Every year, more of us have
been employed in the state departments, and I am glad
because of that. In order to increase the number we need
to be educated and to show our degrees as the signs of
our worthiness. The presence of the Roma in state departments offers a possibility for the improvement of their
position.
To what extent has your education contributed to the fulfillment of your goals?
I have a job that I really love, I am happy
and satisfied. Everything that I have ever wanted and could only dream about, came true. I
would not have achieved all of this if I had not
been educated. I became independent, I have
adopted a healthy system of moral values and
my viewpoints are significantly widened.
What are your future plans?
I want to enroll into masters studies at The
Faculty of Law and I hope that I will get which
will give me more time to start my own family.
Jelena Jovanović
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A unique space in the Balkans
THE ROMA LIBRARY IN ŠANGAJ
According to the data given by the National Institute
for Statistics in 2002, 3.45% of the population in Serbia
is illiterate out of which, 19.65% are the Roma.
Around 35% of Roma children never enroll into elementary school and only one third of those who actually
start going to school, eventually finish it. Due to their starting position and their background, the position of Roma
children is worse than the position of an average Serbian
child. As if there was a rule, the education of Roma children ends when they reach the higher level classes in the
elementary school. Unschooled and uneducated, they
usually have a very hard time during their lives. They are
rejected by the people from their environment who do not
respect their ways of life and work. The only bridge that
connects the Roma with the society is the education. The
building of that bridge in Šangaj was started by opening a
new library branch of the City Library of Novi Sad.
The first Roma library in the Balkans called “Trifun
Dimić” was opened in Šangaj on May 7th by the Mayor
of Novi Sad, Igor Pavličić and the director of the National Library of Serbia, Sreten Ugričić. The preparations
for the realization of this project have started at the beginning of 2009. The City Library has actively participated in these preparations, and this was one of the topics
of our conversation with the director of the City Library
of Novi Sad, Dragan Kojić.
“The City Library is proud to point out that the work
during this project has been made easier due to help we
received from the partners who obviously share the same
values with us like freedom, well being, democracy and
dreams” said Dragan Kojić and added that the project
was supported by the community center Šangaj and its
president Bela Kurin, the Fund for the Open Society from
Belgrade, the National Library of Serbia, the Roma Inclusion Office, the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality, the Council of Novi Sad,
numerous individuals as well as the media who report
about the work of this library.
The first Roma library is named after a well-known
romologist, writer and the fighter for the emancipation
and education of the Roma – Trifun Dimić.
The library is situated in Šangaj, a part of Novi Sad
which represents a multinational environment, within
which the Roma population is the dominant one. The
space in which the library is situated has been given by
the Šangaj community center. There are around 4000 books in the library, out if which 350 is on Roma language
which makes this library a unique one in the Balkans.
The size of the library is around 100 square meters
and it is divided into two separate rooms. The smaller
room is filled with books and it is also the place where
people come to check in and check out the books. The
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bigger room offers a great environment for reading, studying and doing all kinds of educational and creating
workshops and other cultural events. The director Dragan Kojić also points out: “We would like to invite all the
people who have not visited the library yet, to do so, because it offers a great environment for both studying and
relaxing. It is a very beautiful, spacious library, with a lot
of natural light. It can be used for different occasions; it is
very warm with specially designed furniture. It consists
of great choice of books and any person can find something interesting – from the books in Roma language to
bestsellers in Serbian”.
The director Dragan Kojić also talked about the importance of the books and education in general for the
inclusion of the Roma: “The main reason for the opening
of this library, which is available to anyone and which
allows the people to get the knowledge in both written
and some other forms and to help the development of
both formal and informal education – this is pointed out
in the Guidelines for the development of the public libraries, a document which is like a Constitution for us, and
which was written and passed by IFLA – UNESCO. Due
to this fact, the library “Trifun Dimić” will be the place
in which all the inhabitants of Šangaj and especially the
Roma, will be able to get an informal education. Through
the different types of cooperation with the “Veljko Vlahović” elementary school, the people who are employed
in this library work toward the highest goal together with
some other partners. The director has also emphasized
the importance of the library occupation and the job of
the librarian in keeping of humanitarian values and the
ideals of the civilization.
The first Roma library is both the place where you
can find some books you need and the place where you
can meet some interesting people. The adults who come
here to rent a book or read the daily newspapers can also
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get some information related to various competitions, attend various lectures and participate in the courses organized by the City Library of Novi Sad. The director mentioned that recently, the Roma women had an opportunity
to participate in the free weaving course which was organized as the part of the project called “Prepletaji” and to
learn this skill which might even become their profession
in the future.
During the first 9 months of its work, the library has
achieved great results. The director says that so far the
library has 260 members and that that number is constantly growing. Most members of the library are the students
who are the ones who mostly use this library. “The informal successes that we have achieved are predominantly
related to the education of Roma children who do not go
to school regularly but who never forget to come to the
library, where we teach them how to write” said the director.
Each day, around 30 students come to the library
after their classes, where they get the help they need related to their homework, studying and preparation for tests or exams. This month, the students of the 8th grade
started attending the classes for the preparation for the
entrance exams for high schools.
When we asked the director about the long-term
plans and goals of this library, this is what he said: “Our
long-term goals include increasing the number of members, supporting the reading habits among the children
and the creation of a real educational center within the
library, even though it can be said that the library has already become one according to some of its activities. The
fact is that most of the libraries are old, important and
perspective cultural institutions which make the lives of
many people possible. I sincerely hope that this particular
library in Šangaj will last for the years to come.”
If every Roma settlement had had a library similar
to this in Šangaj, the number of illiterate and uneducated
Roma would have been reduced to the minimum. Šangaj
represents one of the privileged places for the Roma people in the entire Balkans and this specific institution is
under the protection all of those who want to improve the
social, economic and educational position of the Roma
national community.
Dragana Dimitrov
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INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
The basic meaning of the term “inclusion” (lat. Inclusio) is including and containing (which is the opposite
of the term “exclusion” which means excluding).
Inclusive education is a contemporary concept of organized teaching and studying. It consists of, accepts and
includes the students with the developmental difficulties,
the gifted ones, the members of the national minorities,
marginalized and segregated groups, average and all other
students. The emphasis of this model of education is the
development of the individual potentials, developing of
the interest for the education and the achievement of the
prospective results. In the formal literature and school
practice in most of the developed countries and the countries in transition, there is a common attitude towards
the promotion of the great importance of the inclusion of
the children into regular schooling and normal life, regardless of their differences.
The point of the inclusive education is providing
support to the differences. So, the inclusive school is the
school which views the differences between the students,
their interests, skills, abilities and knowledge as the resources for new ideas.
The affirmation of the concept of the inclusive education includes scientific foundations, studious realization
and organization of various institutions, organizations
and individuals. In the developed countries, in which the
level of the importance for the inclusion of all children
into the regular education is rather high, the system for
the education and the support which enables the students
to become the part of the social life according to their
affinities and abilities is extremely developed. Serbia is
definitely at the very beginning of this process and we
are yet to face with the task of making the assumptions
and the conditions for the inclusion of all children into
the education system. It is necessary to enable a continual
process of the improvement of the inclusive approach.
That can be achieved through the realization of the inclusive programs and projects, by institutionalization of the
inclusive strategy for the education of Roma children and
some other marginalized groups. The goal is to introduce
a large number of children into the education system (in
kindergartens, elementary and high schools).
If we think of the inclusive education as a merely
European trend, and we approach it without necessary
preparation for its implementation, it is going to become
an obligation which we are trying to implement forcefully and inhumanly. Apart from the material, organizational
and operational assumptions, it is necessary to work on
the creation of the inclusive culture and inclusive politics
in our own society. This includes the promotion and the
creation of the equal opportunities for all of the people
whose position is unequal when compared to the one of
the other citizens. It is necessary to change your own at20
titudes and take responsibility for your own deeds and
shaping of the society in which we are living. Keeping
quiet and not reacting is not neutrality but more expressing your own attitude. It is important to understand that
the trait that evokes the inequality cannot be changed.
The people cannot change the fact that they have some
kind of invalidity, that they are Roma, that they are of
certain age or that they have a certain disease. What can
be change is our own attitude towards that.
The Inclusive Classes
The inclusive classes model is a model of organized
teaching and studying which includes all the ways and
types of individual or group acquisition of knowledge,
deepening the experiences, improving of skills, nurturing
the habits, development of abilities, valuable orientations
and improvement of the processes of humanization and
socialization of the students until they reach their own
personal maximum.
Taking part in the inclusive classes, as the main component of the inclusion of the education, means that the teachers should notice each and every student, accept them,
respect his or her being different and stimulate their active participation in individual or group studying, talking
about their experiences and cooperation. The main goal
of the enforcement of the inclusive classes is creating the
possibility for the more quality studying of all students,
in relation to their individual differences.
The quality of the individual classes depends on the
partnership between the student and the teacher, the equal
interaction between the students, the relationship between the teacher and the parents, as well as the partnership
between the school and the community. Individual classes are only successful if it is planned synchronically,
if it is achieved and if it follows the education of children regardless of their origin and the differences among
them. If the potentials and advantages can be seen in the
differences and not the weaknesses, if every individual is
accepted with his or her own specificities, if the communication is not forced, if the obstacles are seen as challenges, if all the activities of the students, teachers, parents
and representatives of the local community are aimed towards the improvement of the quality of studying and the
participation in the social life, the inclusive classes are
being carried out successfully.
The inclusive education is being carried out in the
narrow context – pedagogy and in the wider context – the
society (local community, social, health, cultural, humanitarian institutions, NGOs, etc.). This means that it is
necessary to include the representatives of all target groups into the inclusive process but also to provide them
with instruction, examination, planning, realization and
following of the inclusive educational work.
The inclusivity of the wider social context (the level
of the inclusional consciousness, the system of the social
values, the degree of the social development, equality and
social solidarity, democraticalness and the humanity of
the relations within the society, etc.) definitely determines the quality of the inclusive classes. In this way only
will the students be included and accepted, regardless of
their psychophysical development, ethical, racial, religious, sexual, linguistical or any other belonging.
The Inclusive Education Model is
(un)suitable for the Education
of Roma Children
When we talk about the inclusive education model
whose aim is to enable the inclusion of Roma children
into the education system, we need to bear in mind some
of the characteristics of Roma community, the abilities
of children to attend the classes regularly and also the
characteristics of the local community.
One of the measures that will certainly have a positive influence on the educational status of Roma children
is their early inclusion into the kindergarten education
(when they are around 4-5 years old). They can spend the
whole day in the kindergarten or they can attend some
alternative programs aimed at preschool children which
can be realized and carried out by some NGOs and Roma
organizations. Moreover, an additional effort should be
made in order to enable the Roma children aged 6-7 to
spend the entire day in kindergartens, in order to become
more prepared for starting elementary school.
Some factors (like not knowing the language in
which the classes are held, bad and unstimulating conditions in their homes, the lack of games and toys, etc.).that
have negatively influenced the inclusion of Roma children and their academic success in elementary schools
can be made less intense by making their inclusion into
kindergarten institutions earlier and by their spending
more time in those institutions.
In order to increase their success in the enrollment
tests that are taking place before the children start elementary school, it is necessary to organize some additional activities, especially those which include learning
Serbian language or the language of the national minorities in which the classes are being held in the elementary
schools in that particular municipality. If this is not carried out, the children could be exposed to some negative
experiences related to school and other educational institutions because they have been unprepared before they
have been included into the regular educational process
which they cannot follow.
Another important measure is the prevention and
destruction of the segregation of Roma children in education, which is usually done by enrolling these children
into separate classes just for Roma children or enrolling
them into special classes in elementary schools which are
intended for mentally disabled children. Children who are
included into regular classes need help in studying. The
critical periods are the very beginning of schooling, the
transition between 4th and 5th grade and the very end of
elementary school. One of the solutions for providing the
support for the children who have bad results in school is
to hold the additional classes more intensively and regularly. An extremely important way of supporting Roma
children is helping them enroll into high schools.
It is also necessary to work on the motivation of the
parents to send their children to schools as well, to point
out the significance of education by including the successful educated Roma, the means of information, NGOs
and local self-governments. Another example of a good
action would be the municipality which would pay the
fees for the Roma children to go into kindergartens.
The work on the awareness of the non-Roma population and on pointing out the problems and the needs
of the Roma are also extremely important. This specific
process has to be carried out in the entire population and
in the public sphere too, since this sphere has a very important role as far as the education of the Roma is concerned (kindergarten teachers, people who work at the
education institutions, representatives of the local selfgovernments, etc.).
The results of this kind of education would be the
equal access to quality and free education and equal opportunities within the education system, in which every
child is respected and accepted, regardless of its sexual,
national, religious and socio-economic origin and background. However, it is important to point out that the inclusion is a process that needs to include the institutional
dimension.
Therefore, the inclusion is a continuous process that
promotes intercultural respect and understanding, equality of all social groups and develops the competence
among students which will help them function better in a
society filled with differences and diversity.
In that sense, Serbia, as one of the participants in
the Roma Decade, is obliged to help Roma children to
come across various financial, economical and cultural
obstacles, and to enable them the equal access to education. The support of this kind is related to human rights
and its realization is not just the question of humanism
and will, but also the state`s obligation to enable the inclusion of Roma into the education system in accordance
with their needs.
Petar Miler
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An interview with Branko Stajić, the president of Žabalj municipality
ŽABALJ MUNICIPALITY
Žabalj municipality is one of the 45 municipalities
in the AP Vojvodina in which a large number of different
national minorities currently reside. A lot of attention is
dedicated to the solving of issues of the Roma who live
there. In this interview, we talked with the president of
Žabalj municipality, Branko Stajić, about this municipality and the status the members of the Roma national
community have in it.
Can you tell us something about your municipality?
Žabalj municipality is situated at the center of AP
Vojvodina. It consists of four settlements: Žabalj, Čurug, Đurđevo and Gospođinci and its covers the area of
around 400 km2 . According to the 2002 census, there
were 27.513 people living in this municipality. All settlements are connected with asphalt roads which makes the
transport and communication between these settlements
easier. Several different rivers run through the territory of
this municipality - Tisa, Stara Tisa and Jegrička as well
as the channel Dunav-Tisa-Dunav. The River Tisa, which
runs through several European countries, is suitable for
domestic and international water traffic and it is also suitable for the building of a marina. The river Stara Tisa
became a nature park in 2007 under the name „Stara Tisa
kod Bisernog ostrva”. The fishing club Stara Tisa controls
and uses this nature park. The most important branches of
industry in this municipality are agriculture, alimentary
industry and wholesale and retail trade.
What is the position of Roma people in Žabalj municipality?
According to the 2002 census, there are 27.513 people living in this municipality and out of that number
around 1008 inhabitants are Roma – 768 of them are domiciled, 52 of them are displaced and 188 of them are
refugees. There are around 150 Roma living in two settlements in Čurug called Ledine i Boronj naselje, as well
as in Plehano selo in Žabalj. Around 100 Roma live in
the Roma neighborhood in Đurđevo, whereas in Ciganska mala in Gospođinci there are around 50 of them. However, according to the 2010 census, the number of the
Roma people in this municipality is 1500 which means
that their number is slowly increasing.
The size of the
municipality (in square
kilometers)
The number of
settlements
The number of
inhabitants
The number of Roma
people living in the
municipality
The informal Roma
settlements with the
number of inhabitants
22
400km²
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27.513
The number of domiciled Roma: 768 (2002 census)
The number of displaced people: 52
The number of refugees: 188
Boronj naselje (in Čurug) around 150, Ledine (in Čurug) around 150
Plehano selo (in Žabalj) around 150
Ciganski kraj (in Đurđevo) around 100
Ciganska mala (in Gospođinci) around 50
Čurug i Đurđevo the streets were reconstructed and asphalted. The reconstruction of the Roma neighborhood in Čurug
was funded by the Provincial Secretariat
for Environment Protection. The projects
related to the employment of Roma people have been carried out with the help
of the Provincial Secretariat for Labour,
Employment and Gender Equality.
Are there any budget resources that
are planned for the implementation of the
action plans which are related to the solving of the issues that the Roma people
are currently facing?
There are some planned budget resources that are aimed at the implementation of the action plans which are related
to the problems the Roma people are currently facing. The Office for Roma Inclusion gave 1.500.000 dinars for that particular cause. The Center for Social Work
provided the allowances for the social
welfare which were around 3.041.193 dinars. As far as the education is concerned,
11.843.170 dinars was spent for the monthly stipends, meals and transport expenses for about 120 Roma children. Part of
this money is spent on kindergarten services for 50 Roma children.
What has been done so far in the fields like education, employment, housing and health care in order to improve the position of Roma people in this municipality?
There are 447 Roma children included in the educational system – 374 of them are attending elementary
school, whereas 73 of them are going to high school. The
fact is that only after 2002, 245 Roma children have been
included into the education system and that until that year
there have been no Roma students from Žabalj municipality who have been enrolled into universities. According
to the data collected by the NGO Romkinje u dekadi,
there are 230 Roma people aged from 35 to 65 who are
illiterate whereas there are no illiterate people from the
Serbian population who are of the same age. For this reason, a lot of attention is being paid to the education of
Roma people.
Together with foreign donors and the Government of
AP Vojvodina, Žabalj municipality has carried out several
projects related to the improvement of the housing conditions of Roma people. In several houses in the Roma neighborhood in Čurug the bathrooms are being built and in
The Roma Decade in
n AP Vojvodina
Who are your partners in this process?
Our partners are Roma Inclusion Office of Žabalj municipality, The Center for Social Work,
Roma Inclusion Office of the AP Vojvodina, elementary
schools, high schools, kindergarten institution Detinjstvo
from Žabalj, Community Health Center in Žabalj, and
Roma NGOs. The Roma NGOs do not have steady sources of income, but we as the municipality manage to
fund some of their projects through our budget. Roma
Inclusion Office of Žabalj municipality gave 3.200.000
dinars to six local Roma NGOs.
What are the future plans of this municipality?
The plans of Žabalj municipality are coordinated
with the strategic goals for development of Žabalj municipality and the Strategy for Social Welfare. Thanks to
the successful coopereation between several institutions
and organizations a significant progress has been made in
the fields such as education, housing and the employment
of the Roma people. I really hope that this partnership is
going to last and that we will be able to make the lives of
Roma people easier and much better than they have been
until now.
Jelena Jovanović
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ŠID MUNICIPALITY
On February 14th 2009, the Roma Inclusion Office,
together with the Matica Romska and the Union of the
NGOs Dekada Roma, supported by the Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National
Communities, organized the Donors` Conference in order to improve the position of Roma people in Vojvodina.
The representatives of the embassies of Hungary, Italy
and Germany as well as the representatives of USAID,
UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the
Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Open Society
Fund, the Citizens` Initiative, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Government of AP Vojvodina, local
self-governments were all present at that conference and
the significant contact was made with the German businessmen.
The moderator of this conference, Mr.Duško Jovanović, the director of the Roma Inclusion Office, talked
about the work of this office and the activities that were
organized and carried out and that were related to the
fields of education, housing, employment, health care
and the integration of the Roma into the state institutions.
During this conference, a conclusion was made that a lot
had been done in Vojvodina for the improvement of the
position of the Roma national community and that those
activities should not stop so that the educational, material and social status of the Roma would become even
higher.
The German business men who were also present
at this conference invested several million Euros for this
cause, which just shows how important the cooperation
between different provincial, state and international institutions and organizations really is.
After the negotiations with the German business
men and the compilation of the necessary documentation,
the first significant step was made in Šid. The Protocol
about the partnership between the local self-government
and the representatives of the German companies about
the investment worth 135 million Euros was signed. The
24
president of Šid municipality, Nataša Cvjetković, signed
this Protocol together with the two German investors, in
which the rights and the duties of the sides that had signed it were defined.
This was the first step towards the realization of the
very important investment of the German business men
in Šid municipality and Srem in general. The negotiactions related to this investment lasted for 18 months. This
investment, worth around 135 million Euros, includes the
construction of two factories – one for tire recycling and
the other for the production of biogas. These two factories will be built on a 47 ha piece of land which is situated
in the industrial part of the town. The construction of the
factories will begin in March, and around 170 workers
will work in them. The Roma will have the priority as far
as the employment in these factories is concerned. This
investment is going to be realized in Višnjićevo, a community center in Šid municipality.
The Provincial Secretary for Labour, Employment
and Gender Equality, Mr. Miroslav Vasin and the director of the Roma Inclusion Office, Mr. Duško Jovanović,
were present during these negotations with the German
investors and provided a great support to Šid municipality. A very important contribution for the realization of
this investment was also made by the coordinator for the
Srem administrative district, Dušan Jovanović, who was
the leader of these negotiations and who actively participated in the long preparation for the realiyation of this
cooperation.
Šid municipality showed its readiness to attract
the foreign investors who will accelerate the economic
growth not just of this municipality, but of entire region
as well. The main goal of the projects like this one is to
reduce the number of the unemployed Roma people so
that they could be able to earn enough money from their
work in order to survive and to decrease the number of
the socially disadvantaged Roma families.
Ninoslav Jovanović
Roma Health
ROMA HEALTH – ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES
If we take into account the fact that the members of
the Roma national community are six times poorer than
the poorest and that they have to face numerous problems
on the daily bases, so far not much has been done in order
to improve the position of the Roma and their integration
into the society. According to the survey carried out by
the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia, only one
in 100 Roma manages to live for more than 60 years.
has been adopted in 2009 and it focuses on the following
fields: health care, education, housing, employment, displaced people, the return of some people based on the
agreement of the readmission, personal documents, social security and social protection, the position of women,
culture, discrimination and other related issues. This strategy also consists of The Action Plan (2005-2015) for the
Improvement of Roma Health with predefined goals.
The Decade of Roma Inclusion (2005 – 2015) is an
international initiative, first of its kind, in which the governments of the central and south-eastern European states (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia,
Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania) promised that they will do their best in order to improve the socio-economical status and the inclusion of the Roma. This
initiative includes the governments, intergovernmental
bodies and the NGOs. The Decade of Roma Inclusion
“Following the information related to the Decade
of Roma (2005-2015), the Ministry of Health offered us
the opportunity to improve the Roma health in our municipality, through the public action for the improvement
of Roma health, and to raise their awareness about this
issue” says Miroslav Meržan, the president of the organization The Citizens Association RROMA-ROTA. This
organization, together with the Institute of Public Health
in Kikinda , applied for and carried out the projects in
the period between 2006 and
2009. “The entire cooperation
between the team employed at
the Institute of Public Health
and the members of our organization functioned great” said
Mr.Meržan, and added that “an
enormous effort has been devoted to the realization of these
projects according to the preexisting plans”. He also pointed out that there have been
some problems in approaching
the Roma in their settlements
and that these problems have
been overcome thanks to the
effort of RROMA-ROTA association.
In 2006/2007 the Institute of Public Health in Kikinda
carried out the project called “ The Improvement of Roma
health on the territory of Kikinda municipality”, its main
goal being the improvement of health condition of the
Roma. The same project was also realized in 2007/2008
in all the villages that belong to Kikinda municipality. The
main goal was certainly to strengthen the health potential
of the Roma population while there have been some other
goals as well that have been more specific:
• To start monitoring the differences in the health
status between the Roma and the rest of the population
• To provide the basic health conditions which are
important for the improvement of the quality of
focuses on the following fields: education, health care,
housing and employment. All countries that participate
in the Decade have adopted the national action plans in
which the goals and the indicators for all the preferential
fields have been determined.
The Government of the Republic of Serbia has, in
2005, accepted the Action Plan for the Improvement of
Roma Health which consists of: the research of the current situation related to Roma health, making sure that the
laws related to the health care are being enforced and the
improvement of the health care services and the environment in which the Roma people live. The Strategy for the
Improvement of Roma Position in the Republic of Serbia
25
life; sanitary-hygienic measures
• To raise the awareness of the Roma related to the
improvement of the life-style and work
• To provide the adequate health care which is available to the Roma
• To influence the social-political structures in the
communities so that the Roma would receive the
special attention and help
Firstly, a survey was carried out in the Roma settlement called Mali Bedem, where the project had been
carried out. The survey pointed out the most prominent
problems the inhabitants of this settlement were facing
and the goals of this project were defined according to
these problems.
Then, the analysis of the drinking water in this settlement had also been carried out as well as the disinfection,
disinsectization and deratisation. The medical and dental
checkups of the school children also took place as well as
the health educational and health promotion work and the
two public presentations. The local government provided
the resources for the disinfection, disinsectization, deratisation and the removal of the illegal landfills.
During 2006 and 2004 the Institute of Public Health
in Kikinda carried out the immunization control of the
Roma population in the settlements that belong to the
northern-Banat county. The additional immunization was
carried out in the settlements where it was determined
that the children were not immunized.
The people who were the users of this project were
Roma who had been living in the Roma settlements in
Kikinda municipality and around 250 of them had been
included in this entire project.
The survey carried out in Roma settlement Mali
Bedem had showed that the main risk factors are present among the Roma population in these settlements.
According to the survey, 76.3% of the Roma are active
smokers, around 50% of them consume one pack of cigarettes per day and 25% consume two and even more.
None of the Roma who participated in the survey was
actively involved in any sport and 96.1% were not doing
any recreational activities. Only 3.9% had diverse diet
while 61.5% only ate once or twice a day. Based on the
survey, 47.7% said that they are constantly exposed to
stress, 56.6% thought that they did not know much about
the health care measures, and 57.9% did not get any information about the ways of health improvement. Only
4% of them use contraception.
Apart from the activities related to this project, during the five years of the work of The Citizens Association RROMA-ROTa, around 20 gatherings and health
workshops for children, women and the elderly were carried out. According to Mr.Meržan, each year the budget
of the Ministry of health is smaller when compared to the
year before, which represents a big problem because there are not enough resources to solve all the problems and
take care of all the issues that are out there. The actions
of the removal of the illegal landfills, pumping out the
underground waters and many others were carried out in
Roma settlements in Kikinda, Bašaid, Mokrin and Rusko
Selo and there are also many plans for the future actions.
We expect to receive help from the Ministry of Health,
the Provincial Government and the local self-government
because we definitely need to do more in the Roma settlements, where the situation is really alarming.
Marija Petković
26
PEDAGOGICAL ASSISTANTS IN SERBIA
The Poverty Reduction Strategy points out that
among the Roma population, the greatest problem is definitely the reproduction of poverty. Education is one of
the biggest problems that the Roma are currently facing.
Since 2008, the Ministry of Education has included the
Roma pedagogical assistants into the education system.
They function as mediators between the students and their
families and the educational institutions and in that way
they make easier the process of the inclusion of Roma
children into the educational system.
A pedagogical assistant is an employee, who is elected thorough the public call for employment and hired by
an educational institution or school. His role is defined
through the Law on the Basic System of Education and
the Guide related to the program of the instruction for the
pedagogical assistant. The work of the pedagogical assistant is supervised by the school principal or a member
of the school council who is elected by the principal. The
pedagogical assistant is hired for one year and he keeps
the weekly records of his work and reports to the principal or the member of school council.
The pedagogical assistant works at kindergartens and
schools in which there are children who come from poor
and deprived environments, marginalized groups where
the language in which the classes are held is not spoken,
children who have development or emotional problems,
disabled children, as well as the children with disruptive
behavior which is the result of some tragic (painful) event.
Since working with these children seeks a high level of
responsibility, one of the main prerequisites for this job is
to have at least the high school education. The assistants
have to attend a five day introductory course so that they
can gain more experience and become more competent
in their work. The kindergarten teachers and school teachers define the ways in which the assistant works with
the children who need an additional help during studying
and the general language development. The assistants are
actively involved in the process of integration of Roma
children into their peer group and they also encourage the
enrollment of these children into schools.
Subotica – one example
of a job well done
Since the beginning of this year, on the territory of
the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Education has hired 178 Roma pedagogical assistants, out of which 5 of
them are employed in Subotica.
In the last 10 years, the NGOs from Subotica have
worked with the educational institutions in order to hire
pedagogical assistants. The experiences of this particular
city have been included in the creation of the criteria for
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the choice and the role of the pedagogical assistant in the
education system. There are five pedagogical assistants
currently hired in Subotica, through the Ministry of Education program. At this moment, 100 Roma children are
going to kindergarten and 370 Roma children are going
to elementary schools. The kindergarten institution “Naša
radost” has two assistants, while in the elementary schools “Matko Vuković“ “Sečenji Ištvan“ and “Đuro Salaj“
only one assistant is hired.
The experiences related to the work of the pedagogical assistants are different. Nada Dimović worked as
a pedagogical assistant in “Đuro Salaj“elementary scho-
ol, from 2003 to 2005. During this period, around 100
Roma children attended to this school. After that, she was
transfered to „Matko Vuković“ elementary school, where
she is currenty working and in which there are 140 Roma
children. According to her,the younger students are her
priority and she even works in the daycare. The quality
of her work is her trademark, she is making sure that she
anwers the needs of each and every child. She is also in
contact with teachers and the school principal, as well as
with parents whom she informs about the current issues
and invites them to attend parents` meetings. The big27
gest problem for the students
is the inability to communicate
in Serbian, which is the language spoken and used during the
classes in schools. This directly
affects the students and makes
their knowledge acquision even
harder.
One of the consenquences
of the pshychosocial immaturness of children is the loss of
concentration during the classes. The lack of school supplies
is also a big problem. The pedagogical assistant talks to the
parents who have a low level
of responsibility towards their
chidlren`s education and tries
to solve those problems. Despite these problems, a large
number of children manages
to learn things contained in the
syllabus and to get into the next grade. „The majority of
the parents has relized the importance of the eduational
institutions. A mutual trust has been achieved between
the pedagogical assistant, the parents and the schools and
that is the main prerequisitive for the advancement in the
educational inclusion of the Roma“ said Nada Dimović.
Kertis Kajtaz is the pedagogical assistant in “Sečenji
Ištvan“elementary school in Subotica. Currenty, he is at
the last year of his studies at the Teacher Training College
in Subotica. In addition, he is an active member of the
NGO Educational center Roma where he works with the
younger members of Roma population, which have had
a huge impact on his application for the working place of
the pedagogical assistant. The school principal, Magda
Fehervari pointed out the need for the pedagogical assistant. There are 116 Roma children going to this school.
The principal said that Kertis works with the children
who are in the first grade and come from three different
classes. Half of the students do not speak Serbian very
well while some of them do not even understand this language. His main task is to help the students overcome the
language barriers by translating the lessons from Serbian
to Roma language. In this way he actually helps them
approach the matter they cover during their classes more
easily. The results that he achieved for the short time of
his work are very important: most of the students learned everything that was in the syllabus for the first grade,
the integration of Roma and non-Roma children has been
achieved, the non-Roma students gladly sit next toRoma
students during their classes, the students regularly go to
classes, etc.
The results achieved by the pedagogical assistants
jusfity their existance. They are the keepers of the children`s rights and interests and they are facing a large
number of chalenges and tasks. Their mission is of great
importance in the actualization of the vision of the Roma
national community which focuses on the higher level of
education and decrease of poverty.
Ružica Nikolić
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PROVIDING THE ADVANCED SERVICES ON THE LOCAL LEVEL
The Government of the Republic of Serbia, in cooperation with the World Bank and the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is currently
in the process of realization of the project called “Providing the advanced services on the local level” – DILS.
According to the official records of Ministry of Education, the project is going to be carried out from the beginning of 2009 until the end 2012 and the total loan amount
given by the World Bank is 2.5 million Euros. This project
is supported and carried out by the Ministry of Health,
Ministry of Education and The Ministry of Labour and
Social Policy.
The goal of this project is the strengthening of the
capacities of the departments of health, education and
social welfare on the local level, which will focus of providing services to the people who belong to the marginalized groups and who live in decentralized surroundings.
The most important activities of this project are:
• To identify the vulnerable groups of people and estimate their needs
• To educate the health care workers and assistants
about the needs of the elderly, children, young people, disabled people and the Roma
• To train the people from local self-governments
about their duties in the fields of health care and
the needs of the vulnerable groups of people
The Inclusion of Roma in the
Education System
After the signing of the agreement between the
DILS/REF project of the Ministry of Education and 28
municipal mentors, since December 2010, municipal
mentors have been appointed in 58 poorest municipalities
in Serbia. Their main task is to support the development
of the inclusion of Roma in the education system. The
aim of this project “The Inclusion of Roma in the Education System” is to provide the quality education to Roma
children. It includes working towards the establishing of
the conditions for the equal education for all students,
prevention of the prematurely dropping out of school, solving the problems related to discrimination, introducing
Roma language into the education system and establishing the conditions for the optimal integration of Roma
children into the system of education.
“This project represents the program of support for
the undeveloped municipalities, for the successful development of the projects and actions aimed at the inclusion of Roma children into the education system. This
program of support will be aimed at those municipalities
in Serbia, in which the education of Roma children is the
biggest and the most prominent problem” said Tinde Kovač Cerović, state secretary in the Ministry of Education
and also added that “apart from the mentors, the most
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important aspect of support to these municipalities are
grants, or funding which will be given to the best project
proposals. Those projects need to facilitate and enable
the successful education of the Roma children which is,
according to the state law, available to all children.
The purpose of these grants is to help the local self-governments and institutions which focus on health,
education and social welfare to strengthen their own capacities. The grants will also help them get the necessary
equipment and adjust the infrastructure so that they would be able to respond to the specific needs of their users
and be qualified enough to provide better services in the
future.
The municipal mentors and the role they have is of
great importance, since they will, together with the municipal teams, work towards the development of the integrated enrollment policy and the system for the support
for the successful education of the Roma children. The
main role of the municipal mentor is to provide the necessary support to the members of the local team, during
the process of the development of the project and later,
during its implementation.
The plan of the project “The Inclusion of the Roma
in the Education System” is to get Roma children closer
to the educational institutions. The attention is being paid
to the construction of the stimulating environment which
will help this process function smoothly. The project is
based on the fact that our country has signed almost all
important declarations and conventions which point out
that ALL children have equal rights to education.
The Program of Support in Pećinci
Pećinci municipality consists of 15 community centers in which more then 1200 Roma people live. The majority of Roma families do not have housing problems
and around 300 Roma children have been integrated into
the education system. The Roma society from Pećinci
together with the Pećinci municipality, kidergarten institution and schools is constantly working on making children closer to the local educational institutions.
The level of employment of Roma people is not that
high, especially due to the current economic situation and
the unskillfulness of Roma population, so that in this municipality a special attention is dedicated to the inclusion
of Roma national community into the process of education.
There are 5 Roma settlements, located on the peripheries of the Pećinci municipality and the fact that there
are no cases of violence in schools and any other types of
discrimination is definitely a good and promising fact.
The Roma society from Pećinci is working together
with the local self-government and as the reslut of this
cooperation, in the last 5 years, free textbooks and monthly bus tickets were given to Roma students from Pećinci who go to high school. Apart from that, all Roma
who are on the social support, also get bread coupons,
29
apart from the money they receive. During the religious
holiday Sveti Sava, all children, including Roma children, were given laptops as presents. These projects and
programs offer a chance for these children and help them
during the process of education. The cooperation between Roma association, kidergarten institution, school, local self-government and some other relevant institutions
and organizations, make the process of their realization
better. The Roma children get the chance to go to school,
become educated and be able to get a decent job after
they finish school.
According to Roma coordinator Ivan Jovanovic, the
realization of the DILS project gives a perfect opportunity for Roma parents to educate their children equally in
comparison to the other children. The Roma association
from Pecinci has been working for 6 years to improve
the education system in this municipality. Ljiljana Docic,
who is DILS project mentor on the project “Educational
Inclusion of Roma”, says that DILS is going to finance
the realization of 40 projects that come from 58 municipalities with which they are currently cooperating. She
has also pointed out that the project is going to be carried
out for 2 years and that it is currently in the process of gathering the data and the analysis of the condition in which
the municipalities are. The issue that is being analyzed is
related to Roma children – what is the quality of the education that they receive, what are their living conditions,
are there any instances of segregation and discrimination
out there. After this, what follows is the stage in which
the local action plan and the project proposal are being
made.
Novi Knezevac and
“The educational inclusion”
Novi Knezevac municipality is located in the northern part of Vojvodina. According to the 2002 census,
the municipality had 12.975 inhabitants out of which 655
are Roma. According to the data collected by the Roma
association Romska Suza, today, there are more than 750
Roma living in that municipality. There are 236 Roma
children who are included in the system of education ( 34
of them are in kindergarten, 158 attend elementary school and 44 of them attend high school).
Together with the Roma Inclusion Office, the municipality provided the money for food and bus tickets for
these students. This year, the children in the kindergarten
and the elementary school were given school supplies.
Novi Knezevac municipality is taking part in the
project “The Educational Inclusion of Roma” which is
conducted by the Ministry of Education within the DILS
project, together with the Fund for the Education of
Roma from Budapest and the funding will be given by
the World Bank.
The aim of this project is to make the quality education more available to the Roma children at the local
level, in accordance with the law related to the system of
30
30
education. This project also focuses on the support for the
municipal mentor for the making of the long term plan
for the enrollment of Roma children, the local action plan
as well as the preparation of the project proposal.
Milan Savic, the Roma coordinator from Novi Knezevac said that the realization of the program “The Educational Inclusion of Roma” has started with the formation of the local team who focused on the figuring out the
priorities related to the educational inclusion of Roma.
The team was also in charge of making the project proposal and the local action plan for the education of Roma,
then initiation, development and monitoring the partnership of the self-government on one hand, and institutions
and organizations on the local level on the other hand.
Seven members were elected for this team, as well as seven of their assistants, and all of them come from relevant and important organizations and institutions which
are involved into planning and realization of the social
policy on the local level. All activities of this team are
based on voluntary basis.
During the meeting of the Council for “The Educational Inclusion of Roma” of Novi Knezevac municipality, Zoran Jocic introduced himself to the members of the
Council. His task is to provide support to the municipal
team for the preparation of the local action plan and the
project proposal. Mr Jocic also introduced the project to
the team members and pointed out the main goals of this
project.
“The Educational Inclusion
of Roma” in Kovin
On January 19th 2011 the council for “The Educational Inclusion of Roma” has been elected in Kovin municipality, in order to provide the better quality and more
available education to Roma children in this municipality. The main task of this council is the preparation of the
project, which will be used as a mean of getting the nonrefundable resources from the World Bank, aimed at the
educational inclusion of Roma in this particular area. At
this moment, a report is being written about the current
situation and the needs of the local community related to
the improvement of the education of Roma. The report
is going to be delivered to the Ministry of Education of
the Republic of Serbia by February 28th at the latest. If
the report is accepted, the next move will be writing of
the local action plan and the project proposal for “The
Educational Inclusion of Roma” in Kovin municipality.
Milanka Stefanović,who is also the member of the Municipal Council for Education, has been elected as the president of the Council. Vesna Nikolic, a mentor, appointed
by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia
was also present at the Council, in order to provide the
support for the team who is in charge of the development
and writing of the project.
The
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EMPLOYMENT AS THE PRIORITY
The Roma Inclusion Office was given 237.000
Euros for the support of the employment of the
Roma, by the European Commission and Regional
Socio-economic Program for the Development.
At the beginning of February, the Roma Inclusion Office has signed an agreement of cooperation
with the delegation of the European Commission in
Serbia, related to the realization of the project The
Improvement of Roma employment in Vojvodina.
This project will provide free specialized instruction and offer the possibility for self-employment of
more than 200 unemployed Roma, during this year
and the next year, together with the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality.
The lack of jobs is one of the major reasons for
the poverty that exists among the Roma. It is estimated that around 80.000 Roma live in AP Vojvodina
while the official statistical data show that their level
of education is lower than the average, which points
out to the difficult position of the entire Roma population on the work market. According to the survey
related to the working force from 2009, the percentage of the unemployed Roma people was 28% while the percentage of the unemployed Serbian people
was 16.4%.
Even though the Republic of Serbia has, as one
of the participants in the Roma Decade, adopted the
Strategy for the Improvement of the Position of the
Roma as well as the action plan for the employment,
so far a little has been done in order to decrease the
number of the unemployed and to make the lives of
these people better.
Based on the pervious activities and the data
collected on the local level from the Roma coordinators, the Roma Inclusion Office has developed a
project which will provide the free courses for the
deficitary professions for all the Roma who are interested and who come from 20 municipalities in Vojvodina. This project will also provide them with the
possibility for the subvention for self-employment
and starting their own businesses and also with the
support during the job search for all qualified and
skilled Roma.
In the past three years, similar activities have
been carried out together with the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality
and the National Employment Service. Seventy seven subventions for self-employment have been giThe Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina
ven and 50 new businesses whose owners are Roma
have been established. However, due to the lack of
qualifications and the competence of the owners,
these businesses are facing difficulties to survive on
the labor market. In order to help these business and
their owners, the projects also offer the help from
the mentors who will give advice to all the newly
established businesses as well as the support in providing computers, advertising materials and the administration services.
“It is a fact that the percentage of the unemployed Roma is rather high, especially in rural areas, so
that one of our goals is to inform those people about
the job opportunities, to make the communication
better on the local level and to empower the Roma,
which directly influences their situation of the labor
market” was explained to us by the members of the
Roma Inclusion Office.
The right to apply for the free courses have the
Roma who come from 20 municipalities in Vojvodina, in which the number of the Roma is the biggest
and which have their own Roma coordinators: Novi
Kneževac, Kikinda, Sombor, Apatin, Kula, Bečej,
Žitište, Odžaci, Srbobran, Žabalj, Zrenjanin, Novi
Sad, Beočin, Inđija, Ruma, Pećinci, Pančevo, Kovin, Bela Crkva i Senta.
According to the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality, the public
call for the self-employment of the Roma will start
in April.
The conditions of this call should be similar to
the conditions of the previous calls, and this project
started by the Roma Inclusion Office will be available to all unemployed Roma. “With the help of the
Roma coordinators, the representatives of the local
self-government, the National Employment Service
and the local media, we would provide the Roma
with all the information they need by organizing meetings in the Roma settlements” said the members of
the Roma Inclusion Office.
The Roma and the employers who are interested
in these public calls, will be offered the services of
the mentors and the technical support during the preparation of the necessary documents and the giving
of the subventions. With the help of the mentors, we
will support the owners of the newly-established business through the strengthening of the organizational capacities, establishing the systems of the administrative procedures as well as the establishing the
31
communication with different organizations. “The
mentors will be in charge for monitoring the legal
obligations of these businesses” said the members of
the Roma Inclusion Office.
Even though there is a small number of reported instances of discrimination against Roma during
the process of their employment, it is a well known
fact that the members of this national minority and
often facing this problem. Oftentimes the employers
have prejudices that the Roma are uneducated and
irresponsible. The Roma Inclusion Office decided to
focus on this specific problem, so that this project
also includes the cooperation with the familiar employers which will hire the unemployed Roma who
have previously been trained for the deficitary professions.
The social exclusion of the Roma, the life of the
very margins of the society, their inability to use their capacities to the fullest and to take part in social
relations and processes is extremely noticeable in
our country. Due to poverty, the lack of basic knowledge and continual education and discrimination,
the Roma are far away from the possibilities for
employment, earning money, getting educated, participating and being included in the social networks
and the activities with the community. According to
the members of the Roma Inclusion Office “Our basic goal is to create new working places and to keep
the already existing working places available to the
Roma in AP Vojvodina, through the motivation of
the working force with the right qualifications in the
sector of production and business services”.
In order to support the measures for the active
job search, the Roma Inclusion Office has made
contact with 5 well known employers from the municipalities Irig, Ruma, Vrdnik and Šid who are interested in giving advantage to the Roma during the
process of employment. The representatives of these
businesses have sent their letters to the Roma Inclusion Office, which include the lists with the jobs
in high demand. The employers are looking for the
following professions: mechanical engineers (4),
electro-engineers, mechanics (3), electricians (2),
member of the kitchen staff (1), personal assistants
(6), techinical assistants (2), sales manager (2), biologist/lab techinician (2), workers with the finished
agricultural high school (8), auxiliary workers (50),
architectural engeneers and builders (4), unqualified
workers (100), administrators and many others.
Bogdanka Tasev-Perinović
32
THE ALIBUNAR
MUNICIPALITY
According to the last census, there were 657
adult Roma people living in the Alibunar municipality. If we add the number of the under aged people,
this number is significantly bigger. This municipality
consists of the following settlements: Dobrica, Novi
Kozijak, Ilandža, Seleuš, Alibunar, Vladimirovac,
Nikolinci, Lokve and Banatski Karlovac. The Roma
people are living in all of these settlements.
An additional census is going to take place so
that the exact number of Roma people living in this
municipality is going to be determined quite soon.
The majority of Roma families live in dilapidated
houses and some of them do not even have running
water and electricity. In most cases, large families
do not have a regular source of income, their main
source being the social welfare that they receive and
the money they get by doing some seasonal work.
The situation of the Roma in this particular municipality started to improve with the establishment
of Roma Inclusion Office and the appointment of the
coordinator, who works together with the local self-government, the provincial authorities and some
state institutions. The main activities of the coordinator include working towards the improvement of
the living standard of the Roma and making sure that
the standards related to equal human rights that are
defined by law are being carried out.
Last year, 15 unskilled people were employed
for 4 months, thanks to the cooperation between the
municipal government and the National Employment Service. These people were mostly doing civil work related to the public utilities. This year we
expect realizations of some new projects which will
employ more Roma people.
Currently, The Roma population living in Alibunar municipality is facing financial difficulties. The
needs for the public kitchen is bigger than its current
capacities and apart from food, they are lacking clothes, furniture and firewood.
This winter is extremely cold and unpleasant
even to us, who have and live in our cozy apartments
with central heating. If we think about the cold radiators and empty stomachs, we can easily imagine
the position of Roma people. Should we continue to
judge and ignore them? Should we first help them
by making sure that we are not making their lives
harder that they already are?
Novakov Dragica

AP VOJVODINA

Transcription

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