Czech School Inspectorate says Romani enrollments in mainstream primary schools rising

More and more Romani children in the Czech Republic are being educated according to the standard primary school program. Statistics produced recently by the Czech School Inspectorate indicate that in the current school year, compared to the 2013/2014 school year, the reduced curriculum for pupils with "mild mental disability" has reportedly been less frequently used.

According to the Czech School Inspectorate, a reduced curriculum is frequently taught at the "practical" primary schools (previously called "special schools"), but can also be used to teach pupils enrolled in mainstream primary schools. Given the reduced extent of the curriculum, it is difficult, especially at higher grade levels, for children to transfer from reduced-curriculum instruction into a mainstream school with a standard curriculum.

The statistics are based on a sample of 444 schools surveyed both in 2013/2014 and in the current school year. "At those 400 schools, 400 Romani pupils, during one year, were transferred from the program for the mildly mentally disabled into the standard one," Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek (Czech Social Democratic Party – ČSSD) told journalists after a cabinet meeting yesterday.

The minister believes the statistics will serve to argue to the European Commission that the situation is improving for Romani people in the Czech education system. The Czech Republic has repeatedly faced criticism ever since the judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in the case of "D.H. and Others vs. Czech Republic" of 2007, which found that Romani children had been unjustifiably enrolled into reduced curricula because of their ethnicity.

Last autumn the European Commission formally contacted the Czech Republic with a request for information about the alleged continuing discrimination of Romani children by the system. While the number of Romani pupils educated according to a reduced program fell year-on-year by 11 %, the number of Romani children enrolled in mainstream education rose.  

"The number of pupils enrolled into the ‘practical’ schools, or enrolled into mainstream primary schools but taught in the mild mental disability regime, has gone down," the minister said. He would, therefore, consider it unfair if the European Commission were to continue to describe the Czech situation as one of systemic discrimination of Romani children in their access to education.  

However, the minister did not rule out the idea that Romani children might still be disadvantaged at some schools. He said that such conditions would indicate a failure on the part of school directors, who will have to respond to eventual audits by the Czech School Inspectorate.

The reduced primary school curriculum is being used less in general, not just used less with Romani pupils. There was reportedly a 25 % overall decline in the number of all pupils, non-Romani and Romani, enrolled into reduced programs at the schools surveyed, representing 3 638 children no longer being enrolled into such education.

Other statistics show that the number of children diagnosed with "mild mental disability" who are now being integrated into mainstream classes is rising. The Education Ministry is also considering completely withdrawing the Appendix for Pupils with Mild Mental Disability, which includes a reduced version of the prescribed curricular material.  

The Action Plan for Measures on the Education of Romani Children, Pupils and Students for the 2015-2017 period says a proposal for such a step should be ready by June. During the 2015/2016 school year, pilot testing of the removal of the reduced curriculum would take place and its complete withdrawal would be introduced into practice as of September 2016; at the same time a methodology would have to be developed for the education of those children previously instructed according to the Appendix.