Amnesty calls on Slovak town to desegregate its schools

According to Amnesty International in Slovakia and the Counseling Center for Civil and Human Rights (Poradna pro občanská a lidská práva) the catchment areas for schools in the town of Prešov are ethnically unbalanced. The neighborhoods where Roma people live have all been designated as the catchment area for a single elementary school, reports news server Korzár.sk.

The human rights organizations are relying on research performed by Amnesty International Slovakia in April 2010. Both employees of the Matice slovenské Elementary School and parents living in the Stará cihelna quarter of town said last year that the directors of some elementary schools were refusing to register Roma children. Their parents had no choice but to register their children at Matice slovenské. The parents then filed a motion with the district office of the state attorney in Prešov to review the legality of the currently applicable generally binding edict designating the catchment areas. “This practice leads to segregation, which is banned by Slovak legislation and by international and regional human rights charters,” Martina Mazurová of AI Slovakia told Korzár.sk.

Renáta Borščová, director of the Matice slovenské Elementary School, says she is not responsible for the situation, as she warned the Prešov town hall’s Department of Education, Culture and Sport that their proposed generally binding edict on the catchment areas would lead to the segregation of Roma children. As she told Korzár.sk, “the Matice slovenské Elementary School’s proposal for which specific streets should be designated as the school’s catchment area was not accepted.“

The NGOs are demanding the town hall correct this state of affairs, as every child has the right to a discrimination-free education. The town hall leadership claims it knows nothing about elementary school directors refusing to enroll pupils because of their membership in an ethnic or national group. They also say they have never received any complaints of such behavior.

In the past, human rights organizations have also criticized the alleged segregation of Roma pupils in Šarišská Michaľana (Sabinov district). That matter is currently before the courts.