Czech EdMin against educating Romani children separately in Romanes

The Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MŠMT) has responded to proposals made by the TOP 09 party, specifically, by Czech MP Anna Putnová, about the education of Romani children and has fundamentally rejected them. Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek said the notion of instructing Romani children in both Czech and Romanes or placing them in segregated classes was counterproductive and ill-conceived.  

Such a proposal, moreover, would contravene the country’s anti-discrimination law and the D.H. judgment, through which the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has obliged the Czech Republic to achieve the maximum possible inclusion and integration of Romani children into mainstream education. "I see the path to inclusion primarily in the introduction of a mandatory final year of preschool education through either nursery schools or preparatory classes for all children," the Education Minister said. 

MŠMT has prepared a proposal for financing options that could resolve the country’s problems with preschool capacity within three years. The funds would come both from the EU and from the national budget.

Last week TOP 09 proposed that Romani children be partially educated in the language they speak in their families, which the party believes to be Romanes. Such an approach would allegedly eliminate language barriers and make instruction easier.

Some commentators saw a problem in the creation of separate Romani classes for such instruction. Czech schools are already able to teach the Romanes language as an elective subject.