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Czech EdMin submits delayed decrees: Fewer children in "special schools"?

22 October 2012
2 minute read

Activists have been demanding the submission of new decrees modifying the provision of special needs education since last fall. The Czech Republic has long been internationally criticized for the disproportionately high number of Roma children attending practical elementary schools.

“In addition to those who are physically disabled, the new decree also addresses educational conditions for children, pupils and students with intellectual disability and those who are socially disadvantaged,” ministry officials said of the main change. Socially disadvantaged children are considered to be, for example, children living in ghettos whose parents do not give them much attention and who therefore fall behind in school even though their intelligence is adequate. These pupils should have the right to support in the form of teaching assistants to help them prepare for class.

Roma parents often want their children to attend “special schools”, as they usually attended such schools themselves. The practical schools, with their high percentage of Roma pupils, can seem the better alternative for their offspring. However, parents will now have to sign an informed consent form which will clearly explain to them the advantages and disadvantages of the practical schools, such as the fact that after graduation from such a school their children will not be able to attend a mainstream middle school. “From my own experience I know many parents have not understood the professional terminology used in school assignment, and they could have been manipulated into something they didn’t want,” said Jana Marečková, who cares for a severely disabled sister.

The decrees were ready for adoption last year, but Czech Education Minister Josef Dobeš (Public Affairs) postponed the date of their submission and modified them. “Both decrees now address the concerns of the external comments we received and I firmly believe that as of the new school year they will both be in force,” Dobeš said.

Activists from non-profit organizations previously warned that Dobeš was ignoring the issue of Roma children’s education. Education Ministry statistics show the practical schools are attended by two out of 100 non-Roma children but by 30 out of 100 Roma children. According to a World Bank report from 2009, the high unemployment and low salaries of Roma cost the state coffers at least CZK 16 billion annually. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2007 that the Czech Republic had violated the right to education of 18 Roma plaintiffs by unjustifiably assigning them to the “special schools”.

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