A new measure from the Ministry of Education helps Roma pupils get lower secondary education. Interest is minimal, though | tnlive.sk

A new measure from the Ministry of Education helps Roma pupils get lower secondary education. Interest is minimal, though

They want to study, learn a trade, and many already have a clear idea of what they want to be as adults. Some were so motivated by the bricklaying course that they set about repairing the huts in the Roma settlement. And that is only one of the activities. The foundation is motivation and support. In Klenovec, near Rimavská Sobota, the local children are lucky. They get a helping hand from the special primary school, from volunteers, and from the field social workers.

Martin Halík from Brno moved to the Roma settlement in Klenovec years ago to help the Roma there. He taught the children to read, to write and to work on a computer. He encouraged the adults to go to work. Whatever he earned himself, he gave away.

“I mostly felt sorry for them, and so I told myself I should try to help them somehow,” Martin recalls.

Later, when he started a family, he kept on helping. But he no longer lives in the settlement. He lives with his wife and three children.

Together they take the children from the settlement on trips, and they teach them that only through education and work can a person escape poverty. Thanks to them, several people have completed various training courses.

The situation in the Roma settlement

The social workers in the settlement say that people there want to work. But if the job is far away, there is no money left for the journey.

The same goes for the children. After finishing the special primary school, they often do not study any further. The school they could go to is too far from home, and the family has no money for it. Martin wants to help with this too.

A new measure

Since last school year, the Ministry of Education has introduced something new: external testing to obtain lower secondary education. A pupil who passes it gets primary education, and the options for further study widen considerably.

We asked several special primary schools whether their pupils are interested in obtaining lower secondary education. Reportedly, though, they do not use this option, or only very little.

They have to work

“One ninth-grader said he would like to use this option. Our pupils see no advantage in it. They simply wait for the day they finish school and go to work. They have no motivation to get a higher education, since they can find a job even without it. We have former pupils who are properly employed as workers and earn well. For many, education has no value,” said Janka Pohorelská, headmistress of the special primary school in Klenovec.

According to Martin Halík, when the children grow up, they help their parents, so they go straight to work.

Although most of the answers from the schools sound rather doubtful, the figures from the Ministry of Education give hope that the new option of completing primary education is gaining strength. Compared with last school year, the number of those interested has more than doubled.