[WCAR] School segregation declared unlawful by Hungarian courts

Hungarian Courts Condemn Segregation of Children with Learning Disabilities

On 7 October 2004, in a major test case, the Budapest Metropolitan City 
Court of Appeals (Fővárosi Ítélőtábla) upheld the first instance court 
decision, dated 1 June 2004, by which the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Court 
ordered the primary school in Tiszatarján and the local governments of 
Tiszatarján and Hejőkürt respectively to pay damages in the total amount of 
3 650 000 Hungarian forints (approximately 14600 euro), with accrued 
interest, to nine families whose children have been unlawfully kept in a 
segregated class and taught based on a special (inferior) curriculum from 
1994 to 1999, in the absence of any prior certification declaring them 
mentally deficient and unable to attend regular classes. All of the 
children affected, most of them Romani, came from families with low income 
and social standing in the community and have accordingly had difficulties 
in asserting their legal rights and interests in the education context.

The complaint, filed in 2001 by attorney Lilla Farkas as part of a joint 
strategic litigation project undertaken by the Legal Defence Bureau for 
National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI) and the European Roma Rights Center 
(ERRC), was based on the school psychologists' assessment that rather than 
being afforded additional support for their learning difficulties, it was 
"in the children's own best interest" to be placed in a special class for 
the mentally deficient, disregarding their age, pedagogical and 
psychological authority, and ultimately even the prescribed legal 
procedure. Moreover, following their segregation, the plaintiffs, otherwise 
pupils with normal IQs, were taught by an unqualified student-teacher and 
bullied by their peers as "retarded", thus further adding to their 
stigmatization.

In its judgment of 7 October 2003, the Budapest Metropolitan City Court of 
Appeals concluded that the segregation of the plaintiffs by the school and 
the local authorities was in breach of the Hungarian Public Education Act. 
It also stressed that as a result of this practice the plaintiffs have 
suffered and will continue to suffer profound psychological harm. In 
addition, the court held that the school had clearly failed to recognize 
and address the plaintiffs' learning difficulties and had instead chosen to 
administer an inferior curriculum which has jeopardized their future 
development. The court pointed out that on completing their studies the 
plaintiffs will suffer additional disadvantage in terms of diminished 
chances for further education as well as with regard to their employment 
opportunities compared to their peers schooled on the basis of the regular 
curriculum. Finally, the court concluded that the local authorities of 
Tiszatarján and Hejőkürt, in their capacity as funders and supervisors of 
the school in question, did not secure and maintain its lawful operation 
and held that this in and of itself amounts to major negligence.

NEKI and the ERRC welcome the ruling of the Budapest Metropolitan City 
Court of Appeals as a crucial precedent establishing that segregation and 
stigmatization of children with learning difficulties is both morally 
unacceptable legally untenable. Throughout Europe, pupils of Romani origin 
suffer racial discrimination in education. Their overwhelmingly 
disproportionate placement in special schools or special classes for the 
mentally deficient, or in other forms of substandard, stigmatizing 
schooling arrangements, can have no reasonable and objective justification.

For additional details regarding the above judgement, please contact Ioana 
Banu, ERRC staff attorney (e-mail: ioana@errc.org, phone:+361 413 2200) 
and/or Lilla Farkas, attorney-at-law (e-mail: medial1@axelero.hu, phone: 
+36143214141).
_____________________________________________
The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) is an international public interest 
law organization engaging in a range of activities aimed at combating 
anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Roma, in particular strategic 
litigation, international advocacy, research and policy development, and 
training of Romani activists. For more information about the European Roma 
Rights Center, visit the ERRC website at http://www.errc.org.

The Legal Defense Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities provides legal 
assistance to members of national and ethnic minorities who live in 
Hungary, as defined in the act on the rights of national and ethnic 
minorities, and have suffered discrimination due to their national or 
ethnic origin. For more information about the Legal Defense Bureau for 
National and Ethnic Minorities, visit the NEKI website at http://www.neki.hu.

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