Slovak secondary school for Romanies to continue in Kremnica -TV

The eight-year secondary school for socially weak children in Lucenec, central Slovakia, attended mainly by Romanies, which was to be closed down, will in the new school year continue in Kremnica in the vicinity, Slovak commercial TV Markiza reported today.

Education Minister Jan Mikolaj has excluded the facility from the school network, but he has at the same time approved its new provider, the eMKLub civic association from Kremnica, ministry spokeswoman Dana Spankova told Markiza.

Regional head Milan Murgas asked the ministry for excluding the Gandhi residential grammar school from the school network in June, citing unfavourable inspection results, the school’s debts and the decreasing number of students among the reasons.

The Gandhi school will start operating under eMKLub as from September.

The eMKLub association has a long experience with educational projects. Since 1994 it has operated a private school in Kremnica, joining a kindergarten, a primary school and an art school.

The Gandhi secondary school was established four years ago as a pilot project aimed to enhance the Romany community with the aid of EU subsidies.

The school has moved several times during its four-year existence, last time to Lucenec in the summer 2007.

It has lacked money for a long time and it has been losing pupils gradually been. Out of the original 70 children, almost a half have left because of the school’s unclear future.