[child-rights] ERRC Welcomes Integration Instruction in Bulgaria

ERRC welcomes the Instruction for Integration of Minority Children and
Pupils, issued by Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, and sent
the following letter to the Minister today.

Mr Vladimir Atanassov
Minister of Education and Science of Bulgaria

September 12, 2002
Budapest

Honourable Minister Atanassov,

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the situation of Roma in Europe and
provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, welcomes the
Instruction for Integration of Minority Children and Pupils issued by your
Ministry in September 2002 and believes that this document is a good first
step towards the elimination of the barriers for equal education of the
Romani children in Bulgaria.

The ERRC notes that the following strategic tasks with respect to the
education of the Roma, stated in the Instruction, are coherent with the
international standards in the area of Romani education: 1. Preparation
for a process of taking the children and the pupils out of the school
facilities in the Romani neighbourhoods and ensuring equal access to
quality education; and 2. Elimination of the existing practice of routing
normally developed children to schools for children with mental
disability.

The commitment of the Ministry of Education to eliminate the all-Romani
schools in the Romani neighbourhoods as well as to prevent segregation of
Romani children in the schools for children with mental disability is
commendable. The existence of inferior all-Romani schools and the
over-representation of Roma in the schools for children with mental
disability has inflicted a dramatic harm on the development of the Romani
community in Bulgaria over the past several decades. The disparate
treatment of Roma in education not only deprived Roma from equal
participation in social life but also deprived Bulgarian society from
realising its full potential.

The awareness that the schools in the Romani neighbourhoods are a barrier
to the integration of Roma in Bulgarian society has prompted several
desegregation initiatives in Bulgaria in 2000-2002, led by Romani
non-governmental organisations. With their limited resources, these
organisations have achieved encouraging results in the integration of
Romani children in the mainstream schools, and these first initiatives
have received international recognition. We believe that the models
establsihed by these organisations which have proven their efficiency,
will provide a stable basis for the Ministrys strategy for the integration
of Roma in education.

The ERRC welcomes the decision of the Ministry of Education to set up a
Consultative Council on the education of minority children and pupils
which will formulate a national strategy for integrated education. In this
regard, we express our willingness to help the work of the Consultative
Council with our expertise in the area of combatting discrimination
against Roma and promoting equal educational opportunities for Roma.

Finally, the ERRC hopes that the measures envisaged by the Instruction for
the Integration of Minority Children and Pupils will be implemented
without undue delay and in good cooperation with all interested sides,
primarily experts and activists from the Romani community in Bulgaria.

Sincerely,
Dimitrina Petrova,
Executive Director of the ERRC

_____________________________________________

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal defence
in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the European
Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at http://www.errc.org.

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary
Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax:   +36 1 4132201