1. Case-study No. & Title:
243. Educational programme for illiterate and under-educated Roma in the municipality of Trebnje, Slovenia

Keywords

2. Author information
2.1 Authors’ names
Vera Klopčič and Darinka Tomplak

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Senior researchers
Institute for Ethnic Studies
Erjavčeva 26
Ljubljana

Tel.: ++ 386 1 200 18 79
Fax: ++ 386 1 2510 964
E mail nada.vilhar@inv.si

2.3 Date recorded
13/02/2001

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The good practice deals with some specific features of education for Roma in the municipality of Trebnje, in the central part of Slovenia. It aims to achieve a higher educational level for Roma, a more effective integration and co-operation between Roma and non-Roma.

In the municipality of Trebnje educational programmes are adapted for Roma who are illiterate or who did not finish elementary school. The programmes are aimed at enabling further training and the acquisition of skills to enhance employment opportunities for Roma. At the moment 54 Roma are involved in the programme.

3.2 Location:
Activities within the programme take place in the main building of the Centre for Education and Culture in Trebnje municipality, Slovenia. Transport is provided for the Roma on a daily basis.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
The target group is illiterate and under-educated Roma, from 10 years upwards, in the municipality of Trebnje.

3.4 Major Actors Involved

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors
The Ministry for Education provides funding for mentors and teachers for the elimination of illiteracy. Local authorities provide premises, heating and other material costs and textbooks for teachers. The Employment Office supports candidates over 15 years of age. Monthly support includes a payment of 6000 sit (ca 60 DEM) and transport costs.

3.6 Timeframe
The initiative was proposed in 1991, and launched and implemented in 1992. It will continue for at least ten years

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy
The idea of including Roma in educational programmes for elimination of illiteracy is based on national legislation and financed by the Ministry of Education. Entirely new is the local approach that programmes for Roma must be flexible and individual, conducted in small groups and even individually for each candidate. A programme of ‘self education’ for Roma has been introduced. This is based on distance learning, and pupils come to school only once a week for the whole day and receive homework and instructions for further work.

There are some discrepancies with national legislation, e.g. with the provision that special educational programmes could be launched only after the age of 15. The opinion of the staff in the Centre is that also 10 year old Roma, who dropped out from regular school should be included in the programme, otherwise they will forget what they learned at school and perhaps never continue schooling.

At the moment there is not enough understanding at the national level for these special educational needs within the Roma population. Knowledge about this local initiative is available by virtue of the local authority’s participation.

4. Good Practice Description
Roma in the Trebnje municipality live in isolated settlements located at the border of village communities. In most cases, their huts are dark, damp, non-hygienic, without running water, toilets and bathrooms. The majority of them live in the settlement of Hudeje (195 members of Roma community), and in some other settlements: Mala loka (6), Zagorice near Veliki Gaber (21), Gline near Veliki Gaber (6). Until now, their social position has been marginalized by the wider social community in all fields of social and political life. Majority attitudes were mostly based on general impressions and there was no intercultural communication between Roma and non-Roma.

Recently, the municipality of Trebnje adopted a medium-term programme (2001-2005) for the improvement of the position of Roma.

This good practice is a response to the fact that a great number of Roma in the municipality of Trebnje are illiterate, and that education is seen as the best way of improving their living and housing conditions. As the Centre for Education and Culture is situated in the same building as the Office for Social Welfare and Social Help, the head of the Centre for Education and Culture, Mr. Darinka Tomplak, was faced on a daily basis with the fact that the majority of Roma who visited the Social Welfare office were illiterate. The main challenge for her and the staff of the Centre was how to help them and improve their integration, taking into account differences that are based upon the different way of life, traditions and culture of the Roma. How to avoid forced assimilation in the sense of accepting foreign values, patterns of behaviour and lifestyle?

In the municipality of Trebnje there is a special co-ordinator for Roma issues, Mr Dušan Mežnaršič, who supported the present idea from the very beginning. Carrying out of this programme involves all the professional services that deal with Roma issues (the social welfare office, the municipal office, and the employment service) in the municipality of Trebnje.

First, in the years 1992 and 1993, activities had been carried out in the main building of the Centre. After that they moved to a location within the major Roma settlement in Hudeje. Since 1998, all activities have again been carried out in the main building, some of them together with programmes for non-Roma.

The activities of the Educational Centre in Trebnje relevant to the Roma community in the municipality comprised a programme for elementary schools and a programme for the socialisation and integration of Roma. Both young and older generation Roma are included in this programme. Since the method of teaching is individual, the groups used as teaching units are small. Pupils are selected by the Centre of Social Work in the municipality of Trebnje. In partnership with the pedagogical staff (teachers and lecturers) groups of pupils are then created. Pupils attend school 5 days a week (2-4 hours daily), from September to June. Collaborators of the Centre - lecturers within the frame of the programme for Roma are either teachers from elementary schools, retired teachers, or medical personnel.

The programme was initiated by the Centre of Social Work and the Employment Office in the municipality of Trebnje. The local authority supports these activities within the framework of the municipality’s Roma programme, especially through the programme for improvement of housing, socialisation and integration of Roma within the municipality.

Programme for elementary schools
As the majority of Roma in the Trebnje municipality are illiterate, the first and second levels (up to 4th class) are dedicated to teaching them to be able to read and write. Up to 4th class special emphasis is placed on the teaching of Slovene language and mathematics, and after the 5th class the programme widens to include different subjects. The general programme of the elementary schools in Slovenia is adapted in this way to the special needs of Roma and to the fact that they lack some general knowledge and also knowledge of the Slovene language.

The local authorities made flexible use of the already-established programme of the Ministry for Education of the Republic of Slovenia. The programme for Roma elementary schooling is financed by the Ministry of Education.

Programme for socialisation and integration of Roma
The programme for the socialisation and integration of Roma includes general knowledge about the fields of medical care, hygienic standards, household management and society as a whole. The programme for socialisation and integration of Roma is financed by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Slovenia and the municipality of Trebnje.

The efforts of the Educational Centre, and the findings and results of the present good practice can be summed up by the following principal assertions: