Introducing Roma culture in

Bulgarian schools: a tool for reducing the drop-out rate

among Roma children and

creating a favorable and

tolerant school environment

Teodora Krumova CENTER AMALIPE,

BULGARIA

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Hearing on Education and training: tools for Roma

integrationEuropean Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

Friday, 14 January 2011

Educational situation of Roma children in Bulgaria

20,6

14,512,5

7,2

2,6

1,9

0

5

10

15

20

25

%

1 grade4 grade5 grade8 grade9 grade10 grade

% of the Roma children enrolled in school in relation to the % of all children

• Bulgarian educational system is still organized only around the culture of Bulgarian majority: it barely includes knowledge about minorities, their culture and history neither includes elements of intercultural education.

• Many of the teachers in Bulgarian schools are not aware of the cultural specifics of the children of different ethnic background and do not know how to react adequately in cases of dropping-out

• Roma children and parents still perceive the educational environment as a hostile environment

• Other economic and social problems

The problem:

The Roma culture in school Program

Since 2002

The Roma culture in school Program

• The core of the program is the introducing of the subject of Roma culture

• It is an elective course included in the curriculum of state schools.

• The classes are divided according to the age differences into 1st to 4th grade and 5th to 8th grade.

• The textbooks designed for the classes present the treasure of Roma folklore and culture (including brief history, art, literature, etc.) within the context of the Bulgarian national culture and compared to the folklore of Bulgarians and Turks.

• The classes are mixed and include children of different ethnic origin: Roma, Bulgarian, and Turks.

• The teachers in Roma folklore are from the same school. All of them had undergone a special training at the beginning of the school year about what is Roma culture and how to work with Roma children in a mixed environment.

The aim of the Program• 1. Prevent the dropout of Roma children by bringing the school

closer to the Roma family (through including elements of Roma culture in school curriculum)

• 2. Make children of non-Roma origin familiar with Roma culture, help them overcome prejudices and accept Roma kids, and make the school environment more tolerant towards diversity.

• 3. Train and prepare school teachers how to work in multicultural environment and respect each child cultural values

Starting year: 2002/2003

Total number of schools included in the Program: more than 250

The results from the Program• Introducing minority (Romani) culture and traditions in the

curriculum of state schools through the subject of Roma culture: 232 schools

• A mechanism for raising Romani children interest and engagement towards schooling through recognizing their own traditions in the school issues: decreasing the dropout rate from 9,47 % to 0,13 %.

• A mechanism for awakening parents (community) engagement with the school

• A mechanism for overcoming prejudices against Roma on behalf of the other ethnoi and thus preparing the environment in mixed schools for accepting Roma children.

• A mechanism for getting educational and local authorities engaged with the problems of Roma education

Good practices:• Non-traditional

organization of the classroom:

Welcomes the students and helps her/him feel more comfortable, feel ‘at home”

Successful practices:• Using interactive

techniques:

Provoke students to be more active; provoke their interest and lead to “learning by enjoying”

Successful practices:• Including parents in the

educational process:

A lesson “I teach Mom Roma culture”, “Let’s go for a

coffee to the Roma culture class”, participation of parents in the lesson

(sharing memories, stories, songs), etc

Successful practices:• Extra-

curriculum activities:

Successful practices:• Out-of-school activities:

celebrations, radio broadcastings, visits in the mahala, collecting folklore, etc.

What impressed me in the work is

that the children feeling my interest

towards them increased their interest

towards school.

Velislava Bobeva, a teacher

Studying Roma folklore the children

improved their Bulgarian language.

Diana Dimitrova, a teacher

The number of absences is much lower

in the days when Roma folklore class

is studied. Gradually this influences

the other subjects as well.

Galia Micheva, a school principal

Roma children who had many absences in

the past now visit the classes regularly.

The lessons turn to be too short. The

positive thing is that these are the last

classes for the day in the curriculum. This

gives us opportunity to stay longer in class.

Slavka Todorova, Gorna Oryahovitza

The opinions

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Teodora KrumovaCenter Amalipe, Bulgaria

t_krumova@mail.bg, www.amalipe.com