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First graduates leave the only Slovak Romany secondary school

22 October 2012
2 minute read

First 18 students this year graduated from the only secondary school in Slovakia focused on the studies of Romany culture, which was established in Kosice four years ago, school director Anna Koptova told CT today.

Another three students will repeat the school leaving exams in September, she added.

Koptova said that three of the graduates have already been accepted to universities and others seek university studies, too, which is a success since the schools’s aim is to prepare young Romanies for university studies.

The private four-year secondary school is attended by 70 full-time students and 50 students in long-distance programmes from the whole of east Slovakia.

Since the establishment, the school has faced problems with poverty as many students come from the families that live on the verge of subsistence level and cannot afford to cover the coats of their children’s studies, that is to pay for transport, accommodation and food at school, Koptova recalled.

"If these children do not gain subsidies from various projects, they have no chance to study," she said.

In spite of that, there is a high interest in studies at the secondary school among young Romanies, she added.

The students have three hours of the Romany language and two hours of the Roma culture studies a week.

Apart from the secondary school in Kosice, a majority of Romany students attend the eight-year Gandhi grammar school in Zvolen, central Slovakia, established in 2005. It focuses on talented children from low-income families.

"At present we have 70 pupils, 90 percent of them are of Romany origin," its director Peter Gabor told CTK.

The low education level among Slovak Romanies leads to extremely high unemployment in their community, and is the main obstacle if they seek jobs. Some Romany children do not even complete obligatory school attendance.

Koptova said that the introduction of the Romany language at schools would be a chance to improve the education level of Romany children.

So far Romany is not a tongue of instruction in the 5-million Slovakia where only the Hungarian, Ukrainian, Ruthenian and German ethnic minorities have their own schools.

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