Yveta Kenety

Czech Republic: Memorial tree planted to honor the Czechoslovak Romani "Black Partisan", Josef Serinek

31.7.2017 9:19 More than 40 people from all over the Czech Republic met yesterday in the village of Spělkov in the Vysočina Region to attend a memorial assembly dedicated to the memory of the partisan Josef Serinek, his colleagues and companions, and all of the brave local residents of the area who aided his group in their efforts to survive and fight. A tree grown from a seedling of the heirloom St Wenceslas Oak was planted in honor of this extraordinary man near the location of the first place he found safe haven after escaping the Lety concentration camp for Romani people in South Bohemia.  full story

Scholarship for female Romani students at Czech pedagogical secondary schools open until 31 August

22.7.2017 13:08 The Roma Education Fund is still accepting applications for the scholarship program designed for female students accepted to Czech pedagogical secondary schools for the
2017/2018 school year. The program activities are focused on supporting female Romani students at pedagocial secondary schools studying in the field of "Preschool and
extracurricular pedagogy" or the "Pedagogical Lyceum".  full story

Czech Republic: The English College in Prague fundraises for Romani student scholarship

18.2.2017 10:41 Students attending The English College in Prague are holding a benefit concert for the school's Václav Havel Scholarship in collaboration with the National Gallery on 22 February at Prague's St. Agnes Convent to raise money for a Romani student to study at the prestigious secondary school. "We study at a school where our accent, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or skin color do not matter. We appreciate that, and therefore we would like to make it possible for another Romani pupil to study together with us," the invitation to the event, authored by the students, reads.  full story

Czech Deputy Ombudsman: We cannot treat people as individuals

12.1.2017 7:44 "Human rights and security are communicating vessels. A person who is not secure is not free. The degree of danger that is now being felt in Europe must have an influence on how human rights are conceived of," the lawyer and Deputy Ombudsman Stanislav Křeček has said in an interview for the Czech magazine RESPEKT.  full story

Slovak President gives state honors to 20 figures, including Czech politician

10.1.2017 11:45 High state honors were awarded yesterday in Slovakia to film director Juraj Herz, in memoriam to the longtime editor of the Romano nevo l'il newspaper Daniela Hivešová-Šilanová, and to the Czech politician Michael Kocáb. They were among 20 such figures honored by Slovak President Andrej Kiska at the castle in Bratislava.  full story

Stázka Brodníčková: I wouldn't have come this far without my foster mother

5.1.2017 7:12 This is the story of a girl in the Czech Republic named Stázka whose biological mother is Romani. In September last year she enrolled in the secondary school for pedagogy in Blansko.  full story

Kate Lapham: School should be a place where children learn how to live in society as citizens, to treat each other with respect, and to solve problems

7.12.2016 17:30 Kate Lapham: School should be a place where children learn how to live in society as citizens, to treat each other with respect, and to solve problems
Interview with Kate Lapham, senior Program Manager, Open Society Education Support Program

First I would like to ask you about whether there are any interesting projects in Europe that we could see as successful examples of integration under challenging circumstances?
There has been a great experience in Northern Ireland around the integration of Catholic and Protestant students. The aim is to put these two groups of students, who had previously been experiencing or still are experiencing the impacts of the conflict there within their own family, into the same school environment so they can learn together and also live together again.  full story

Czech Education Ministry and Labor Ministry will buy school lunches for the disadvantaged next year

7.12.2016 7:10 On 22 November 2016 the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport ((MŠMT) announced that it has allocated another CZK 30 million [EUR 1.1 million] to cover the cost of providing school lunches to socially disadvantaged children free of charge, according to a press release posted to its website. The recipients of the subsidy program for 2017 will again be nonprofit organizations who will arrange for payments for school lunches for pupils at primary schools whose parents are unable for financial reasons to afford them, MŠMT said.  full story

European Commission: Internet giants must combat hatred more

6.12.2016 10:00 The European Commission has warned Internet companies such as Facebook and YouTube that they must expend more effort to combat hatred online because they are too slow at removing racist posts, news server EurActiv.cz reports. If they do not improve, the Commission is prepared to adopt norms that will legally force them to change their approach, according to EurActiv.cz.  full story

Romani women say they do not feel like equal citizens in the Czech Republic and do not feel safe there

2.12.2016 8:18 More than 60 Romani women from all over the Czech Republic met on Monday at a conference called "Transformation of the position of Romani women during the last half-
century", which was organized by the Romani women's group "Manushe" of Slovo 21, z.s. Many interesting topics were covered that inspired the women.  full story

Slovak Roma Spirit awards for 2016 go to antiracist campaigner and Mayor of the Luník IX housing estate

1.12.2016 9:11 On Sunday, 27 November, the 2016 Roma Spirit Awards were given out to express appreciation for those individuals, municipalities and organizations that are helping improve the position, quality of life, and social conditions for the Romani community in Slovakia through their work. In 2016 there were 147 nominations in seven categories for the competition.  full story

Czech Television reports hundreds of Romani people to become homeless in the New Year

15.11.2016 8:39 Hundreds of impoverished people in Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic, may end up homeless after 1 January 2017. The Dolfin Real Estate company is selling as many as eight apartment buildings in the neighborhood around Cejl Street where dozens of mainly Romani families with small children currently live.  full story

Czech principal says new law is clarifying educational support for socially disadvantaged pupils

2.11.2016 14:22 As part of its WEEK FOR INCLUSION 2016, the Czech Society for Inclusive Education has published the following interview online with school principal Zdenka Juklová (age 59), who has led the Velké Hamry Primary School since 2015. Previously she was an educator at the Masaryk Primary School and Business Academy in the town of Tanvald and at the Secondary School of Glassmaking in Železný Brod.  full story

OECD publishes report on how resources are managed in the Czech education system

2.11.2016 11:26 The OECD has published a report about the situation in the Czech schools when it comes to the management of various resources - financial, human, material, etc. - so that equality in access to education and the quality of education generally can be increased. The assessment was implemented by a team of professionals, both expert staff at the OECD and external consultants.  full story

Czech NGO offers paid internships for Roma - deadline is 9 November

2.11.2016 10:46 If you would like to achieve or change something in your life, the nonprofit organization Slovo 21 has a unique opportunity for you that may never repeat itself. Romani college students or fresh graduates interested in intensifying their professional skills and applying them in their own lives, personal and professional, now have the opportunity to apply for internships.  full story

Foster families of Romani children help them find their roots again in the Czech Republic

12.10.2016 17:17 Martina Vančáková, organizer of an annual meeting of foster families caring for Romani children as part of the "Our Romani Child" program, has just sent me a message: "I'll pick you up at the station in a big yellow car." She is a psychologist and Romani Studies scholar as well as a co-worker of the Center for Foster Family Care, which is organizing the experiential education trip.  full story

NGOs meet with Czech EdMin about the state hiring Roma and support for Romani students

5.10.2016 17:06 Deputy Education Minister Václav Pícl met with representatives of a National Working Group of 11 Romani nonprofit organizations from all over the Czech Republic on 3 October in his office at the ministry. "The aim of the meeting is to establish a constructive collaboration between established Romani nonprofit organizations and the Education Ministry. The coalition works with as many as 8 000 Romani people around the country and can be a bridge between the Romani community and the state administration," said Jelena Silajdžić, director of the Slovo 21 organization.
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Czech Republic: NGOs disagree with draft law on free legal aid

19.9.2016 13:03 The Czech Helsinki Committee and other non-governmental, non-profit organizations are criticizing the draft law on free legal aid that will be discussed by the Czech Government on Wednesday, 21 September 2016. According to a statement released today by the organizations, the bill was originally meant to arrange for a comprehensive, innovative system for persons whose fundamental human rights have been violated to access free legal aid in order to provide them more options for achieving redress through the courts.  full story

Romani people tell Czech Government their issues are all interrelated

28.7.2016 8:47 On 26 July a meeting was held at Hrzánský Palace in Prague between Radek Jiránek, the director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, the Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation Jiří Dienstbier, members of the Czech Government Council on Roma Community Affairs and representatives of Romani civil society. The meeting opened with Jiránek declaring that the "Romani Integration Strategy adopted by the Government in February 2016 differs from previous strategies because it focuses on the emancipation of Roma and supports the development of their culture and language. Romani people have moved from a position of being clients into the role of empowered persons."  full story

Czech Republic: Canadian education expert says only an inclusive school is a really good school

18.5.2016 10:25 "Good teachers who get enough support can achieve even better results with their pupils than special educators in special schools can," said Gordon Porter, a leading expert on inclusive education, during an event on 16 May at the Canadian Embassy in Prague. Porter was invited to the Czech Republic by Open Society Fund Prague to share his many years of experience with inclusion in Canada.
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