Czech agency promotes secondary school education for Romanies

The Breclav Town Hall and the local branch of the government Agency for Social Integration want to select students among Romany children who will attend secondary schools in Brno in an effort to increase the number of secondary school leavers among Romanies, the mayor told CTK today.

At present, only 36 out of 500 local Romany young people have secondary school education or completed apprentice training. Next year, teachers in the local schools will select Romany students who will attend secondary schools in Brno, Mayor Dymo Piskula said.

The government agency started its activities in Breclav this spring. It operates in another 11 towns in Bohemia and Moravia.

Co-existence with Romanies is a frequent topic of discussions between Breclav residents and politicians.

Town councillor Tomas Nepras (Choice for the Town) was criticised last year for his unflattering statements about Romanies. At a Town Hall meeting he described Romanies as "black rascals." He later apologised for his statement saying that he was misunderstood.

The Breclav authorities are preparing several projects with the help of the European Union which it wants mainly to focus on children’s education.

"Truancy poses a great problem. Up to 50 percent of children under 15 have many hours of unexcused absence," Piskula said.

Janicek added that parents were greatly responsible for their children’s school attendance and the Town Hall and agency employees want to work with parents as well. They expect it to help implement the project of secondary schools education for Romanies.

The Town Hall hopes that enlightened parents will not prevent their children from travelling to Brno to attend secondary schools, Piskula said.

Janicek said that assistants were to help Romany children’s education at elementary schools. However, the Town Hall has not yet decided how this system will work. It wants to consult school headmasters on the problem, Janicek said.