Afterthoughts, etc

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Hello there to those who are either subscribers or still check back occasionally..
I know that my trip is well over, however I ended up writing one of my term papers on things I observed while overseas. Thinking some of you may find it interesting, I decided to post it on here. Something that really stood out to me while overseas, particularly within the Czech Republic, was the high concentration of Roma people and the great divides socially and economically there was between them and the native Czechs. Despite working at a museum dedicated to a massacre of people, I was always alerted to 'the gypsies' when traveling throughout the country. The Roma were one of if not the largest ethnic group outside the Jews to be killed during the Holocaust, despite this receiving little to no attention by media. While I have always heard a colorful array of statements about the 'zingaos' and their many social/moral flaws, the Roma question as to WHY this cycle keeps occuring made me interested...And its kinda one of those things you don't believe until you see it. I have passed many houses and people like those in the pictures, some of which were found within a few miles of the pretty little village I stayed in.
It may have been very much one of the lesser-pretty aspects of my summer vacation, but it was definitely an eye opening experience that made you realize that there are significant problems still existing in countries that are deemed as 'western' or 'first world' by political terms. THUS, for my European Union class, I decided to write my final paper on European Union intervention and taking care of the educational discrimination of the Roma people in the Czech Republic. To my surprise there was much more information than I assumed.. The paper is rather long (15 pages +sources) but an interesting read regardless.
Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
<3 Sarah

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Sarah Richard
Govt 243: Politics of the European Union
Prof. Butler
December 18, 2008
Final paper
Cikánský vzdělání: European Union Intervention on
Educational Discrimination and Racism in the Czech Republic

The European Union has made great strides in recent years alongside the European Court of Human Rights to ensure minority rights and general primary education for all of its citizens. Despite these efforts and their celebrated mission to support the Roma people in particular, this delayed process has left Romanis at a greater disadvantage and created even larger faults in European society as time passes. With the expansion of the European Union, many new member states have prominent Roma populations. The Roma have had problems attempting to conform their beliefs and culture to that of EU expectations. This paper will analyze how the educational oppression of the Roma people, specifically in the Czech Republic, leads to a cycle of racism and poverty. With this, the paper intends to note measures the EU has taken to curb this problem and create equal rights for them educationally in the future to create a more unified and successful Europe.
Originating from Southeast Asia, the Romani people (commonly referred to as Gypsies) are a nation that is known to be travelers, moving frequently to find work, spread their arts and traditions, and escape persecution from wherever they visit. The Roma, totaling about eight to ten million worldwide, are without a doubt Europe’s largest minority group, occupying the continent for the last 500 years (Goldston 2002). Other than just general social biases and prejudices, the Roma have faced slavery in Europe until the late 1800s and mass extermination in the Holocaust during the 1940s (Trumpener 1992). In recent years due to political awareness and increased job opportunities throughout Europe, the traditional Roma habit of traveling in caravans has mainly been replaced with them inhabiting low-income and tenement housing throughout Europe (Goldston 2002). While there currently aren’t genocides or slavery occurring against the Roma people, the efforts, or lack thereof, put forth by individual governments to assimilate them into modern European society have proven to be backwards and unjust.
While the question of whether the Roma are oppressed because they move or move because they are oppressed is open for interpretation, the fact that Roma are six times more likely that any other ethnic group to fall below the European poverty line is alarming (Partos 2005). It is said that “Their renown as musicians, dancers, and palm-readers is surpassed only by the near-universal belief among the Gadze, or non-Roma, that Gypsies are also liars, thieves, and cheats,” (Goldston 2002). This cultural belief has been a matter of contention for generations in Europe as “negative myths about Gypsies penetrate childhood stories, family legends, and the fabric of everyday life,” (Goldston 2002). The majority of Gadze today are raised with the belief that the Roma are an inadequate race that doesn’t value things such as education, health, clean housing, the European lifestyle, or the wellbeing of their children.
Due to countries with a high Roma population being admitted to the EU, the Czech Republic is one of the many countries facing scrutiny by the union for treatment towards an estimated 250,000 Romani people that fall within their borders. Crucial problems for governments regarding the Roma would be the significant disparity of statistics in areas such as birth rate, unemployment, poverty, and life expectancy, (Partos 2005). With a change in the educational system, the European Union and Council of Europe hope that many of these statistics can be changed so that they echo the data from other European nations, (Goff 2004).
While a significant number of crimes throughout Europe are committed by Roma people, the underlying reasons of why Roma commit these crimes is due to their impoverished state warranted by a lack of support by a government that is theoretically low in corruption. Falling into the cracks of society and resorting to a lifestyle of begging and swill is something that individual states should have taken care of long before the European Union had to step in finally in 2003 to declare a “Decade of Roma Inclusion” from 2005-2015 (Government of Romania 2005). While the EU has been working hard since the inclusion of the Czech Republic to fix all altercations that came with membership, it is appalling that it took any European nation until 2007 to declare segregated schooling systems for ethnic minorities wrong (BBC News 2008). It was publically declared in 2007 that Roma children in the Czech Republic, among other countries, “received an education which compounded their difficulties and compromised their subsequent personal development instead of tackling their real problems or helping them to integrate into...ordinary schools and develop the skills that would facilitate life among the majority of the population,” (Human Rights Watch 2007). Since then, the EU and individual states have slowly admitted to possible discrepancies found within their schooling systems (Human Rights Watch 2007). Despite being part of one of the most acknowledged western institutions, the Czech Republic’s educational system in terms of providing Roma education has led studies to say that their citizens were left “having attributes similar to those of the people of many developing countries,” (Partos 2005).
With Roma being forced into begging from an early age due to lack of educational promise, the cycle in the Czech Republic seems never ending until governments get a handle on the situation (Partos 2005). It is thought that “The stereotypes about Gypsies are so insidious that even some leading human rights activists share the tendency to minimize the extent of Roma mistreatment, to react defensively when their national governments are criticized for their Roma policies, or to blame the Roma for their own troubles, “ (Goldston 2002). Without government officials and human rights activists admitting their faults first, this problem will not be resolved. Educators in the Czech Republic are pessimistic about reforms to their school system as they are at a loss of ideas for ways to combat the issue of educating Roma children. The Czech Education Minister, Ondrej Liska, states “I want to see in two years that teachers in schools with a high percentage of Roma children have appropriate training and I want to see a major shift in these schools - but I can't say: tomorrow you have to change the philosophy you've been teaching with for 20 years” (BBC 2008). While these educators see a need to deal with the Roma problem, they do not have great motivation to seek this needed change. As the minister of Education, Mr. Liska should be the one pushing school districts and finding these suitable teachers so that his students are properly taken care of. If he doesn’t force them to change ‘tomorrow’, then in twenty more years they will all still be teaching with the same discriminatory philosophy as they are today.
Nations accused of being segregated, or having “special” schools for Roma argue that due to the Roma frequently relocating, the educational track of their children is disrupted, thus they have problems retaining knowledge. “Special” Roma schools in the Czech Republic are providing inadequate learning materials that students should have been introduced to years before. These schools are designed with the intention of being for children with mental disabilities, not for those who are behind in schoolwork (Czech News 2008). Czech educators defend having the alphabet on the wall of a classroom of 14 year olds saying that "Normally the children would learn this at fourth grade. But these kids keep forgetting things, so you have to keep repeating them," (BBC News 2008). While knowledge retention is a problem with the Roma, this is because of frequent changes in schooling systems and not being introduced to age-appropriate material.
The most notable complaint about the segregated schools and unequal education for the Roma came from the town of Ostrova in the Czech Republic where over half of the children in ‘special’ schools were from the Roma community, (Human Rights Watch 2007). Eighteen Czech nationals of Roma origin brought a case to the European Court of Human Rights in 2005 stating that their (Roma) children “were assigned to special schools for children with learning difficulties where they received education from a more basic curriculum,” (Human Rights Watch 2007). Citizens claimed the Czech Republic was guilty of educational discrimination based on race, and in violation of Article 14 and Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to education (Human Rights Watch 2007). The government denied this claim, stating that testing had been done on students and that they were placed in schools based upon “intellectual capacities” rather than race, however the courts found this statement inaccurate and forced the government to conduct reforms of their school system for the opening of the 2008-2009 academic year (Human Rights Watch 2007). “Special” Roma schools were reported to have been more overcrowded than other schools, and frequently lacking amenities such as libraries and qualified teachers, (UNICEF 2008). While the Czech Republic can evade all responsibility because the Roma are technically only segregated de facto, it is well known throughout the public that their change from “special schools” to “practical schools” at the start of the 2008-2009 school year are only a change in title, (Czech News 2008). The reform included “preparatory classes and Romani teaching assistants at standard primary schools to facilitate the integration of children from disadvantaged backgrounds,” (Czech News 2008). In her defense, one of the mother’s who sued the state stated that the funds given from the lawsuit “doesn't make up for the years (her daughter has) lost - the years when you learn to read, write, and count. I can't even send her shopping. All she can do now is manual work,” (BBC News 2008). “Research conducted by the ERRC during the first half of 2008 found that despite assurances from the Czech government, the situation of Roma students had not improved. In fact, curriculum modifications of 2007 have actually made it harder for Roma students to move into the educational mainstream,” proving that the Czech Republic has a long road ahead of them with continued EU oversight if they plan on taking care of this situation anytime in the near future, (Justice Initiative 2008). Educators must realize that while they may want to automatically throw Roma children into age-appropriate classrooms, the many years of separation has prevented them from being in the same place educationally as their peers. While continued educational discrimination is wrong, they need to focus on programs designed to bring the Roma up to speed with the rest of their age group.
The placement of Roma in “special schools” is only a form of corruption in the Czech Republic in order to embezzle European Union funds towards the educational system. EU states are given thousands of euros for each student with government defined special needs. By stating that Roma children have ‘special needs’, thus placed in ‘special schools’, local authorities are able to “request total funds of up to 17,500 euros per child,” (Foreign Policy 2003). The more special needs students, the more funding the government receives. Considering that these “special schools” are defined as sub-par to say the least, where these additional funds have gone is unknown to most. In some situations where individual families are given government funding when then have special needs children, Roma families are able to survive unemployment due to the income generated by their offspring’s “disabilities,” (Foreign Policy 2003). For poorer EU member states, European Committee on Romani Emancipation has stated that Roma are “far better business than cattle,” as “Romani kids are cash cows for local authorities who exploit central governments and sponsor programs of the European Union,” (Foreign Policy 2003). While the EU is justified in wanting to support individual children, families, and school systems dealing with disabilities, the wrongful classification of Roma children by the Czech educational system as disabled is fraudulent and morally wrong. Had the EU had further oversight of this matter, they would have saved themselves money in terms of special education and been able to reallocate these funds to effectively assist the Roma problem. If the governments had properly classified these students originally, the EU would have seen the Roma issue in terms of education sooner, leading to more advanced efforts in aid for the Roma population from the EU.
The poor education of Roma children translates into a continually oppressed society socially, economically, and governmentally. The uneducated Roma are seen as a health and safety risk in the Czech Republic. This has lead to efforts throughout the country for housing projects for the “socially unadaptable”, which more often then not have been found to be for the Roma in cities that people find them a nuisance, (Bukovská 2002). While non-Roma residents were given sound housing after floods ruined a significant area of Northern Moravia, it was reported that only “flooded apartments were made available to Roma residents,” (Bukovská 2002). This deplorable, low-income housing (which denies even some basic tenancy rights) is designed so that the impoverished Roma are the only ones having to inhabit these projects, (Bukovská 2002). The Czech government has also argued with local authorities within the country to take down an “anti-gypsy wall”, secluding an area of town where the majority of residents were of Roma origin, (Repa 2000). The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic overruled the government’s request to have the wall torn down, (Repa 2000). Studies show that “Children’s immediate family environments…have important consequences both for children’s later cognitive skills and academic achievement and for their emotional well-being and behavior problems,” (Menaghan 1995). Without students living in proper living conditions, the academic situation for Roma children does not have a positive outlook. Among peers, Roma children are frequently ridiculed from a young age due to their socioeconomic status, odor, living conditions, work ethic, style, and above all, race. These emotional effects due to poor education are irreversible; “(Insecurity) is reflected in achievement at school, and illiteracy becomes a serious handicap in an environment where the use of writing is an everyday necessity: the future of Roma communities hinges very much on arrangements for schooling their children,” (Council of Europe 2008). With a society so ingrained with hatred towards the Roma people, it is common to see even educators discriminating against Roma students, which only further expands on the problem.
The European Union and member states are unable to effectively track official statistics on the effectiveness of educational programs and advances within Roma children due to such frequent relocation. No plan can be effectively followed through with, and research subjects frequently loose contact with reporters. “Inadequate information will continue to enable governments to evade responsibility for failing to create, fund, and implement effective programs for Roma integration. What is known for sure, however, is that only a tiny minority of Roma children ever complete school and the education to which they do have access is typically vastly inferior,” (OSI 2006). The greater problem to deal with would be the fact that many Roma today still do not see the value of an education for their children, thus do not see the need to be staying in one place for an amount of time favorable to a receiving a good primary education, (UNICEF 2008). UNICEF reported that “Many people are also unaware of the importance of early education, which results in them not sending their children to kindergarten,” thus giving the Roma a late start at an already ill-fated education, (UNICEF 2008). Receiving lack of motivation from their home lives, and facing discrimination at school, Roma students have an extremely high (60%) dropout rate and an even lower percentage (10%) with a positive attitude towards school. Due to it being socially acceptable within Roma culture to marry early, many girls drop out of school to start families of their own before their secondary education is complete, (UNICEF 2008).
Some educated Romani, such as Roma rapper Radek Bhanga, speak out against their race, stating that "Czech people are racist and xenophobic, but many Gypsies are worse. They don't send their kids to school because they don't want them to be white. It's a big mistake. We can talk about racism. But we live in a democratic country and everyone can make choices," (BBC News 2008). He believes that the Romani people thrive on the “victim mentality” that they have been allowed to live with for so long due to oppression: they see no point in trying to change their situation to make their lives better if society has been against them for so long with no intentions of changing their ways, (BBC News 2008). Educators within the Czech Republic see it as the parent’s issue, as it is their fault that the children are relocated, “They don't read to their kids. The Roma have no appreciation that you have to apply yourself to get on. They just live for the day,” (BBC 2008). Educated Romani who fought the system believe that it is the responsibility of their people to oversee their own education and rights, because without personal initiative they will continue to be stuck in a primitive and substandard lifestyle with continued years of subjection to more affluent Europeans, (BBC News 2008).
While the “heart and soul” of the Roma issue is that people throughout Europe continually speak badly of the Roma, it is their job to pull themselves out of vilification and prove the world otherwise, (BBC News 2008). Utilizing new EU membership, the Roma in the Czech Republic should be able to accomplish this more effortlessly, (EU 2008). While Roma parents can continually sue the Czech state for maltreatment of their children educationally, their problems can only be solved by changing the next generation of people.
In efforts to create a country with a well rounded and equal educational system, the Committee of Ministers outlines a plan for the government of the Czech Republic to follow in order to end segregation and create equal education rights for the Roma within their country. This plan includes:
o “Enacting national legislation requiring public authorities to desegregate the educational system.
o Declaring publicly the goal of providing equal access to educational opportunities for all by 2015, creating a comprehensive strategic plan for achieving that goal, and allocating funding for enacting the plan.
o Revising the process of testing and assessing students to bring it into line with European standards and eliminate anti-Roma bias.
o Providing better information to Roma parents on the benefits of integration,” (Justice Initiative 2008).

Without EU support and follow-up on these issues, there is no guarantee that the Czech Republic will implement them as the majority of citizens as well as government officials still have negative sentiments towards the Roma. EU pressures on countries have changed the views of popular media, which has been mainly portraying the Roma more as an abused ethnic group rather than negligent citizens. In order to win lawsuits or move to other EU states (particularly with refugee status), the Roma face problems as all EU states are defined as “safe countries” for Romanis, despite observing differing social practices (Goff 2004). Needing to accumulate substantial evidence to prove this point, it is in the best interests of the Roma to try to reform whatever area of the EU they find themselves in, (Goff 2004).
The Slovakian Ambassador to the European Commission, Eric Van der Linden, was chastised for his 2004 comments stating that Roma children should be placed in boarding schools throughout the academic week to ensure an educational foundation due to their home lifestyle prohibiting this, (Lungescu 2004). Despite Mr.Van der Linden stating that Roma parents were likely to agree to the prospect of sending their children away for educational reform if financial incentives were given, Roma rights activists virulently objected to this proposal. They believed that it imposed on their cultural beliefs, rights to raising their children as they see fit, and forced European assimilation, (Lungescu 2004). Apologetically, the European Commission provided a press release stating that their “policy has nothing to do and will never have anything to do with forcing anyone, either the children or their parents, to leave their homes to go to boarding schools,” however they offered no further suggestions for improvement of the education system, (Lungescu 2004). While it is more than understandable that Romani activists are against this policy because it is discriminatory, would the project have bad results? If the governments provided support and funding for Romani’s whose families were interested in sending their children to a boarding school during the academic week to ensure a proper education (and especially cater to previous learning deficits), then what is the issue? Segregated schooling systems were already ruled illegal by the EU, thus the schools the Roma would be sent to would not be allowed them to be Roma-only. This could be greatly helpful if affirmative action in the schooling system provided a free, accelerated, education with the goal of promoting a positive future and European assimilation (while still allowing the main residence to be with their family. A major part of the problem of the Roma is undoubtedly that their home environment is not conducive to academic achievement, and some Roma realize this, thus would support the schools.
I believe that the underlying reason the Roma en masse aren’t seeking better education for their children is because they don’t want them to face discrimination amongst their classmates, thus by surrounding them by other Roma, they will feel as if they belong to a group. If these schools are found to be successful, then more Roma will take part in them, allowing for a prosperous minority group in the EU. If the Roma are educated, they will be nowhere near as impoverished and face such harsh social discrimination. With the right type of publicity and international oversight, I feel that the boarding school proposal could be a worthwhile option to aid the Roma plight. The EU rightfully states that they refuse to force anyone into adhering to an alternative schooling policy, however if the schools were EU supervised, it is likely the Roma will have more faith in the intergovernmental body than the schools sponsored by their individual governments, (Lungescu 2004). With EU supervision as opposed to governmental, the Roma would have more say in the curriculum as it would be likely to have a representative from the Romani rights group. It is not necessary to make live-in schooling for Roma mandatory, however offering financial incentives could be an option. Parents would get funding, thus help themselves (and not have to support their children throughout the week), and their children get a decent education so that they will not have to be dependant on the government like their parents. Changing the Roma mindset to the idea that education is an investment rather than a chore or majority privilege is vital for any educational success.
Having their children enrolled at these schools would encourage Roma families to stay in one area until their child’s primary education was complete (or at least make multiple moves difficult). By having them stay in one spot, they would be able to take advantage of other EU benefits in areas such as healthcare and the economy. The notion of seeing (your) family stay in one spot would teach the young Roma the concept of being rooted, and the benefits that come along with it. Thus, once they were adults, they could make the decision for themselves as to whether or not they wanted to continue to be nomadic.
No official information leads people to believe that Roma people are naturally incapable of learning at a different pace than any other ethnicity. In fact, many Roma are renowned (particularly in the arts), with notable members from Pablo Picasso, Rita Hayworth, and Charlie Chaplin to the US President Clinton (Hancock 2002). The extremely high numbers of uneducated Roma have resulted from years of racial and educational discrimination as well as a lack of strong motivation with the people, and abuse of government towards minorities rather than any genetic flaw preventing them from being fully capable intellectually.
With efforts towards EU enlargement, the Roma people will receive more help than ever before. When people are covered under EU policy, their actual location within the EU is irrelevant in matters of human rights and freedoms. In order for the Roma people to receive the benefits from EU membership it will most likely be necessary for them to settle in one country or area for a certain amount of time so that they officially gain citizenship to the country, which then translates into EU membership. The EU recognizes that the Roma question is an overwhelming issue for them, and as their citizens, they pledge to assist them in any way possible to create a stronger European foundation. The EU’s mission to work together with governments and minority leaders and collaborate to form a unified continent both in terms of economy and social practices may prove difficult when incorporating the Roma due to their vast cultural differences. The EU, however, tries to see this as a positive change, adding greater diversity and culture to their group through the musical and artistic achievements of the Roma people. As an expansion of the EU incorporates many new Romanis, the racist sentiment has a great chance at increasing as more people are directly subjected to this minority. It is the job of the EU to tackle this issue as soon as possible before it spirals even farther out of hand and it is impossible to ensure the safety and wellbeing of these people.
Whether it is by affirmative action through the state government, European Union intervention, or grassroots movements amongst Romanis, somebody at some point needs to stand up to ensure the education and success of generations of Roma people. The EU has made and enforced many laws concerning the education and welfare of the Roma in recent years, and if they continue on their current path, they will eventually gain equal rights for the Roma. This struggle will not be won unless the EU provides constant oversight of assistance programs, lectures and social programs to assist in the culturally respective and equal assimilation of the Roma into European society. While the battle will be long and difficult for the Roma people to receive equal rights, especially in terms of education, it is a battle worth fighting for as they will greatly benefit from the results.


























Works Cited

BBC News. “Roma’s struggle for fair education”. 2008. Accessed December 8, 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/7581969.stm.

Bukovská, Barbora. “Difference and Indifference: Bringing Czech Roma Ghettoes to Europe’s Court”. Eumap.org. Accessed December 13, 2008 from http://www.eumap.org/journal/features/2002/may02/czechromaghettoes/.

Council of Europe. “Education of Roma Children in Europe”. 2008. Accessed December 10, 2008 from http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/education/Roma_children/.

European Union. “EU instruments and policies for Roma Inclusion”. MEMO/08/462. 2008. Accessed December 10, 2008 from http://www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu/fileadmin/downloads/documents/600-press%20releases/MEMO-08-462_EN.pdf.

Foreign Policy. “Segregated but Profitable”. Foreign Policy, No. 137 (Jul. - Aug., 2003), p. 15. Accessed December 7, 2008 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3183681.pdf.

Goff, Hannah. “A Rare celebration of Roma Culture”. BBC News. 2004. Accessed December 3, 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3579230.stm.

Goldston, James A.. “Roma Rights, Roma Wrongs”. Council on Foreign Relations. Foreign Affairs, Vol. 81, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 2002), pp. 146-162. Accessed December 3, 2008 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/20033090.pdf.

Government of Romania. “Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2025: Terms of Reference”. 2005. Accessed December 8, 2008 from http://www.romadecade.org/portal/downloads/Decade%20Documents/Roma%20Decade%20TOR.pdf.

Hancock, Ian. “We Are the Romani People”. 2002. University of Hertfordshire Press.

Human Rights Watch. “Roma Children denied equal Education”. 2007. Accessed December 9, 2008 from http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/11/13/roma-children-denied-equal-education.

Justice Initiative. “Rights Groups Press Czech Government on Roma Education”. 2008. Accessed December 13, 2008 from http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id=104150.

Lungescu, Oana. “EU regrets envoy’s Roma comment”. BBC News. 2004. Accessed December 13, 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3715751.stm.

Menaghan, Elizabeth G. and Parcel, Toby L.. “Social Sources of Change in Children’s Home Environments: The Effects of Parental Occupational Experiences and Family Conditions”. Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Feb., 1995), pp. 69-84. Accessed December 6, 2008 from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/353817.pdf.

OSI. “Monitoring Education for Roma: a statistical baseline for Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe”. Open Society Institute. 2006. Accessed December 7, 2008 from http://www.soros.org/initiatives/esp/articles_publications/publications/monitoring_20061218.

Partos, Gabriel. “Nations unite to help Roma people”. BBC News. 2005. Accessed December 1, 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4228681.stm.

Repa, Jan. “Czech Court backs anti-gypsy wall”. BBC News. 2000. Accessed December 3, 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/711211.stm.

Trumpener, Katie. “The Time of the Gypsies: A "People without History" in the Narratives of the West”. Critical Inquiry, Vol. 18, No. 4, Identities (Summer, 1992), pp. 843-884. Accessed December 6, 2007 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1343833.pdf.

UNICEF. “Roma children education”. 2008. Accessed December 13, 2008 from http://www.unicef.org/romania/children_1604.html.

The World Bank. “Roma Education Fund-Improving Education Strategically”. 2008. Accessed December 9, 2008 from http://go.worldbank.org/LD2DMPXG90.

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Photos

photo 1
note* random photos found on internet to support point, not actually taken by me

photo 2
note* random photos found on internet to support point, not actually taken by me

photo 3
note* random photos found on internet to support point, not actually taken by me

photo 4
note* random photos found on internet to support point, not actually taken by me

tourists & friends
note* random photos found on internet to support point, not actually taken by me