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Czech Govt Human Rights Commissioner: We must know how many Romani pupils are taught as "lightly mentally disabled"

27 September 2013
3 minute read

At the start of this week, the Czech School Inspectorate called on the directors of all schools teaching five or more pupils with light mental disability in the 2013-2013 academic year (i.e., according to the Framework Educational Program for Primary Education of Pupils with Light Brain Dysfunction) to complete a questionnaire with updated information about their schools. One of the questions asks the directors to provide their professional estimate of the number of Romani pupils in each class.

This step has been strongly criticized by the Association of Special Educators (Asociace speciálních pedagogů – ASP), which has protested to the Education Ministry by writing a letter in which its representatives say this process contravenes the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. Recently the topic has been covered by many statewide media outlets.

The collection of such a professional estimate from school directors of the number of Romani pupils in the schools is, in my opinion, necessary and does not contravene any legal regulations of the Czech Republic. The data requested are to be presented in the questionnaires solely in the form of numbers for each school, which means it is strictly anonymous.

This survey of the schools is a response to the fact that a disproportionate number of Romani pupils continue to be educated in the Czech primary schools according to a program designed for pupils with light mental disability. According to research performed by the Office of the Public Defender of Rights last year, Romani pupils comprise up to one-third of the pupils attending the "practical primary schools".

I believe that for us to have detailed knowledge about this problem and the opportunity to solve it in first-rate way, it is very important to know the actual numbers of Romani pupils educated according to the program mentioned above, even if that requires using the methodology that has been criticized. I am also of the opinion that currently there is no better way to get this data. 

I see this statement by the representatives of the ASP as an effort to prohibit the very existence of any more updated data, as it might confirm that a disproportionately high number of Romani pupils are still being educated according to an educational program for pupils with light mental disability. For the schools educating these pupils (mostly "practical primary schools"), the current state of affairs is beneficial because they receive more funding from the state budget per child educated in this way.

The data the directors are to provide is intended to serve the representatives of the Education Ministry during their December meeting with representatives of the Council of Europe. That meeting is a follow-up on implementation of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, which, in the famous case "D.H. and Others against the Czech Republic", decided in 2007 that the disproportionate placement of Romani children into such schools in the Czech Republic is segregation and that Romani children are therefore being indirectly discriminated against in their access to education. 

I would therefore like to express my appreciation for the current activities of the Education Ministry, including the recently amended decrees (No. 72/2005 Coll., on the provision of counseling services in the schools and school counseling facilities, and No. 73/2005 Coll., on the education of children, pupils and students with special educational needs and children, pupils and students who are exceptionally gifted). These should also contribute toward improving the situation with respect to the education of Romani children in the Czech Republic. 

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