Czech Republic: Two-day European conference on Romani education to take place in Prague

On 17 and 18 January an international exchange conference called “It Is Not Too Late” (Ještě není příliš pozdě) will take place at Prague City Hall (Mariánské náměstí 2). The program will feature primarily examples of good practice in the area of educating members of the Romani minority.

The event will be attended by more than 100 participants from nine EU Member States and will run each day from 10:00 to 17:00 (registration begins at 8:30). “Education is one of the most important things that is closely connected with employment. We will discuss what the state is doing in this area, how it functions. We would also like to inspire our guests from countries where the educational attainment of Romani people is lower than it is in our country to be inspired by examples of good practice,” Ladislav Goral, chair of the RomPraha NGO, which is organizing the conference, told news server Romea.cz.

Besides presentations by participants, there will be discussions of topics such as the roots of Romani marginalization, integration in education, the media process of combating stereotypes and prejudices, or anti-discrimination legislation. The conference is being held within the framework of the Project PAL on “Fighting discrimination and anti-Gypsyism in education and employment in the EU”, which involves 23 partners from Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Spain who aim to solve the problem of Romani social exclusion.

The partners focus primarily on supporting Romani integration into the schools and the labor market, exchanging best practices between those involved, disseminating information, and engaging in outreach at the domestic and international levels. The PAL project is co-financed by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme 2014-2020.