interimreport

Roma in Hungary

After the break-down of Communism, shifted demands in the Hungarian labour market resulted in a catastrophic situation for Romani families. During Communism a high proportion of unskilled Roma labourers worked in the construction and manufacturing industry. In the evolving market economy these huge loss-making companies closed down, and unskilled Roma workers became unemployed in large numbers from one day to the next.

In fact, the Roma were among the first to lose their jobs following the collapse of the Socialist industry. Without sufficient qualifications they could not enter the job market again, which resulted in their extreme poverty and deprivation. Without a regular benefit families lost their source of income and ended on the margins of society[3]. The unemployment rate was three times higher among the Romani population (35.8%) than among non-Romani (11.2%). Especially the rate among young Romani people starting out on their careers was extremely high: among all unemployed it exceeded 46%.

Economically the possibilities and living standards of the Romani population sharply decreased according to a longitudinal survey undertaken between 1992 and 1996 on Hungarian households.[4] The survey examines different social groups according to certain social characteristics (for instance status, age, region and number of children, marital status). It reveals that there are some sub-groups which are highly represented among the most deprived groups of people: people living in North-Eastern Hungary, housewives, young people aged 15-19, widowed, and women with more than three children. All these factors increase the possibilities of belonging to the deprived groups. The pattern of the data undoubtedly shows that being a Roma implies the highest risk of belonging to one of the most deprived groups.

As a result of the economic transition the Romani population became internally more stratified and had many layers, divided mostly by their living standards. Unskilled labourers who lost their job when factories closed down and Romani people living in rural areas form the overwhelming majority of the local population who did not have an opportunity to break out, thus lost their hope and lived from one day to the next.[5] Skilled workers, tradesmen, and other qualified workers belonged to a separate group. These people could preserve some skills from their previous employment that made them able to raise funds. They could attain a trade license and carry on trade and other businesses, or become market traders. A new, rather thin layer of Roma appeared, too: the successful, rich businessmen or entrepreneurs. Thin layers of Romani society, educated people, often living in mixed-marriages, intended to integrate. Many of them supposed that the majority of the society would accept them only if they aimed to assimilate and took on the majority group values and customs.

As a result, they often alienated from their original community, or their community was not inclined to re-adopt them. They have a kind of dual identity, because many of them accept the norms and values of the majority of society, but they do not abandon their traditional values either. They are under pressure to prove that they are integrated, and they keep on fighting to attain the same success as the majority of society. They have to make a much bigger effort to have a degree than non-Romani do, to prove their proficiency at the work force, and to hold their living standards despite doubts of the environment.

Education is considered to be means to break out of this social deprivation, and provides opportunity for integration and upwards social mobilization.

Political representations

Democratic tendencies had an advantageous influence on the self-recognition and political awareness of the Roma in the 1990s. Mushrooming Romani associations, civil organisations and numerous Romani Self-governments (Cigány Kisebbségi Önkormányzat) evolved all around the country. Unfortunately they were soon faced with the lack of permanent financial resources, which resulted in difficulties in maintaining the newly established weak, unstable organisations and NGOs. In 1995 the state established the Public Foundation for the Hungarian National and Ethnic Minorities (Magyarországi Nemzeti és Etnikai Kisebbségekért Közalapítvány) in order to support minority initiatives and foster minority culture. The Public Foundation for Hungarian Gypsies (Magyarországi Cigányokért Közalapítvány), which was founded in the same year, helped mainly to launch agricultural programmes of Roma. The Office for National and Ethnic Minorities (Nemzeti és Etnikai Kisebbségi Hivatal) has assumed a variety of functions.

In 2002 in the new Socialist government the Prime Minister’s Office appointed a Roma representative, László Teleki to the position of the “Political State Secretary for Roma affairs”, a new position. This post gives a great opportunity for Roma politicians to have a deep influence on Hungarian Roma politics. There are Romani representatives hired in each Ministry to act for the Roma aspect of the programs.

Viktoria Mohacsi, a Romani woman was appointed to the position of Ministerial Commissioner for Integrated Education in the Ministry of Education, and another woman Éva Orsos Hegyesine became Deputy State Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs.

Legal concerns concerning the education of Romani students

Large-scale changes took place in Hungarian legislation in the years following the political transformation. Democratisation in Hungary brought about legislative changes. In the first years of transition, the education system was decentralised. Local self-governments became maintainers of schools with more responsibilities in local decision making. These changes are stated in Act LXV of 1990 on Local Self-governments (hereafter: “Act on Local Government”), which sets out conditions for the reorganisation of local level minority education. School maintainers are provided for the additional charges of the education of Romani students from a central budget since 1991.

The public education system underwent complete transformation in the years following Communism. Act LXXVII of 1993 on National and Ethnic Minorities (hereafter: “Minority Act”) sets out a comprehensive system of minority rights. This act prescribes the rights of minorities in education and summarises rules and regulations regarding Romani education.

Regarding prohibitive provisions, there is a particular anti-discrimination text in Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education (hereinafter: “Public Education Act”). Article 4 (7) prohibits discrimination in public education for any reason, on any ground such as the child’s or its relative’s colour, gender, creed, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property or financial condition, age, lack or limit of disposing power, birth or other condition. The Public Education Act was modified several times, and very important supplements were added.

First modification was Act LXII of 1996 Amendment to Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education (hereafter: “Amendment to Public Education”) states that in Hungary the educational language is Hungarian or a minority language. Moreover it emphasises that the Republic of Hungary guarantees protection and various rights for all national and ethnic minorities to promote their own culture, to use their own language, and to receive school instruction in their mother tongue. Article 10 (3) of Public Education Act sets out further essential rights. Children have a right to participate in education based on their abilities, interests, makings; and have the right to continue education. The problem is that without reasonable financial sources these rights are not guaranteed – it is especially important to emphasise this point as regards Romani students. Education requires a considerable amount of money,[6] and as we can see later, most of the Romani families can not afford these expenses. Therefore financial support for schooling is an indispensable condition for attaining positive results in education.

The content of education was planned to be fundamentally regulated by introducing the National Standard Curriculum (hereafter: “NAT[7]”) in 1998. It determined a framework and prescribed minimum standards for every subject at each school year. The Act was a result of pedagogical modernisation. It put a great emphasis on the relation of different subjects, and attempted to create comprehensive, complex subjects to connect segregated elements of knowledge. NAT stresses the importance of intercultural education, and draws attention to the ethnic character of Romani programs. Accordingly, language teaching and culture-based programs are considered to be equally important for Romani students as well as for other national minorities. This is a significant point because programs for Romani students often aim at only educational catch-up.

In 1995 the Ministry of Education and Culture made a proposal for the Roma Education Development Program (hereafter: “Romani Education Program”). This proposal aimed to increase the effectiveness of schools. It stressed the importance of improving the public education system through developing pre-school, school-preparatory and catch-up programs. In addition, it prescribed the development of particular educational programs for Romani children, such as an extended scholarship system and a talent-care net that would serve to eliminate disadvantages. It also emphasised the development of local curricula, textbooks, institutional facilities and teaching aids in schools that educate Romani children in large proportions. Unfortunately it did not include proper guarantees for the educational programs, which resulted in catch-up programs for many years. Regarding teachers and social workers the proposal recommends training. General curricula of college or university teachers at present do not contain proper knowledge on Roma. Such information would be crucial, considering that incomprehensive or discriminative attitude often stems from the lack of proper information on Romani socialisation, culture, living conditions and economic difficulties. Extensive training would contribute largely to eliminating prejudice and negative attitudes of teachers, since many of them are likely to educate increasing numbers of Romani children.

In the same year the Government enacted State Resolution No. 1093/1997 (29/07) on the Establishment of a Middle-term Package on the Development of Living Standards of Roma. The package concerned education, employment, and social, medical, anti-discriminative and mass media communication issues. In order to attain changes in Romani education the program recommends preparation of the special educational program for Romani children in kindergarten and in primary schools and the formation of a talent care net. The guidelines recommend the examination of the effectiveness of public education and teaching methods. They also stress the importance of examining the operations of the Expert and Rehabilitation Committees[8]. Due to the automatic mechanisms of transfers by these Committees, many Romani children having learning difficulties, behavioural or other problems – which are not related to their mental capacity – have been mistakenly sent to special schools originally established for mentally handicapped children. The guidelines aim at raising the proportion of Romani students who study in secondary schools, by providing them with special aid.

By announcement of Act XXXI of 1993 on Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Protocol No.12), Hungary accepted^{^[9]}the convention of Rome^{^[10]}. The most relevant part of this Act regarding to minorities is set out in Article 14. It states “the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, color, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status”. Unequal access to quality education of Romani students jeoperdise the right set forth in the Convention.

Concerning language and culture protection the most important provision is the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1997), which obligates Hungary to acknowledge the protection of the language and culture of minorities. By signing the Charter Hungary had the right to provide special protection for all of the 13 minority languages recognized in Hungary. The government secured special protection for 6 minority languages (Croatian, German, Romanian, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian), but not including neither Romani nor Beash^{^[11]} that are the most regular languages (besides Hungarian language) used by the Roma community.

An Overview on Romani students in the Hungarian Education system

The real number of Romani students in the Hungarian education system and data concerning their education status can not be stated exactly. The last official data were presented by the Ministry of Education in the school year 1992/93. Subsequently Hungary ratified the Act LXIII of 1992 on the Protection of Personal Data and the Publicity of Data of Public Interest (hereafter: Data Protection Act). As a consequence since then schools are prohibited to register pupils as Roma that hiders gathering relevant statistical information on the real educational situation of Romani students.

Recent sociological research has focused on schools with a high ratio of Romani children[12] and revealed segregation and substandard education of Romani children as a universal phenomenon in the Hungarian public education system almost at all level and in all education forms where Romani students are present[13].

The rigid, centralised Hungarian public school system has been subject of extensive criticism by numerous educational experts and researchers. The main critics point out that the education system is neither able to cope with Romani students nor tolerate any kind of otherness that differs from the mainstream.

The negative mechanism and threats of substandard education are especially present in the countryside, where the rate of Romani students prevails[14]:

Table 5

The number and proportion of all Romani and non-Romani students in primary school, differentiated on basis of the settlement types they live, in 1992/93.

Type of settlement	All students (number)	All students (%)	Romani students (number)	Romani students (%)	Rate of Romani students among all (%)
Budapest	166145	15.93	6730	9.07	4.05
County Centre	195737	18.77	8031	10.82	4.10
City	291629	27.96	17744	23.90	6.08
Village	381508	37.34	41736	56.22	10.72
Total	1043019	100.00	74241	100.00	7.12

Source: Kertesi - Kézdi (1997)

Especially Romani children coming from deprived villages suffer the negative school mechanisms, already concerning pre-schooling. The regular attendance of children aged 5 and above is compulsory.[15] Pre-school education plays an important role in pre-socializing the children for school environment and institutional rules, developing language skills (e.g. vocabulary, communication skills) and as a result preventing effectively learning problems at the beginning of the first school year. Still, the attendance of Romani children to Kindergarten is relatively low.[16] Financial reasons, insufficient number of Kindergarten and/or places (especially in the Great Plain) and cultural reasons all contribute to this.

According to data presented by the Ministry of Education the number of children studying at different levels of education are as follows:

	1997 (thousand)	1999 (thousand)	2001 (thousand)
Kindergarten	385	367	342
Primary education	1 004	1 003	944
Vocational education	133	110	130
Secondary education	447	475	420

Source: KSH[17], 2001

Comparative sociological research projects undertaken in 1971 and 1993 present data on the increasing educational level of the Romani population. The qualification of Romani people has increased considerably in the last thirty years at both the primary and secondary level. The rate of those who successfully completed primary school[18] increased from 12% to 46% between 1971 and 1993. The proportion of Romani students graduating from secondary school did not increase significantly; failing to reach 2% in 1993. The rate of Romani students studying at tertiary level was only 0.2%; according to educational experts it may have increased a little in the last ten years, but not significantly.

The qualification of Romani people in the percentage of different age-groups in 1971 (N=3464)

Age	0 class	1-7 classes	8 classes	High school graduates	University graduates	Total
14 –19	8.7	69.0	21.4	0.2	0.0	100
20 – 29	21.2	66.0	23.6	1.5	0.4	100
30 – 39	46.6	45.0	7.8	0.4	0.1	100
40 – 49	47.4	46.5	4.0	0.2	0.2	100
50 – 59	52.4	46.3	1.3	0.0	0.0	100
60 – 69	71.0	26.8	2.2	0.0	0.0	100
70 -	68.0	30.4	1.6	0.0	0.0	100
Total	35.9	51.3	12.1	0.5	0.2	100

Source: Kemény, 1996

The qualification of Romani people in the percentage of different age-groups in 1993 (N=5119)

Age	0 class	1-7 classes	8 classes	Vocational school	Secondary school	University	Total
14 –19	1.5	32.4	55.3	1.4	0.4	0.0	100
20 – 29	1.7	22.4	59.7	14.5	1.7	0.0	100
30 – 39	4.6	32.5	47.4	12.5	2.5	0.3	100
40 – 49	10.1	39.7	40.8	7.4	1.4	0.6	100
50 – 59	32.0	42.3	20.5	3.7	1.4	0.2	100
60 – 69	39.6	51.2	6.4	2.1	0.4	0.4	100
70 -	50.9	40.2	7.8	1.0	0.0	0.0	100
Total	9.4	32.8	45.6	10.4	1.5	0.2	100

Source: Kertesi – Kézdi, 1997[19]

Although the qualification level of Roma increased significantly since 1993, especially in primary education, this does not yield a significant leap forward in their situation, considering the new economical circumstances. Higher qualifications are required for employment in the `90s than were required in the `70s, and demanding a certificate of final examination[20] as a condition for employment is becoming more and more customary. The Roma community had to face the fact that completing 8 years of primary school education is insufficient to secure employment for them[21].

In fact, school officers are also aware of the fact that it is much more difficult to reveal injustice without reliable statistics. Despite the fact that it is illegal registering Romani students with their ethnic origin, and the awareness of school teachers and directors regarding the issue is evident, many school documents contain precise data on Romani students. Schools possessing an ethnic curriculum are evidently aware of and register the number of Romani students studying in the school; especially because they claim state supplementary ethnic funding given for each Romani child to the maintainer of the school.

Unequal chances in education

According to the reckon of a recent research[22] – which due to its good reputation often serves a basis for estimations even at Ministerial level –, the percentage of Romani students within the total school population has been considerably increasing in the last ten years. Between 1989 and 1999 the number of Romani pupils in schools has increased with 4.5 percent. On the contrary, the number of non-Romani pupils has decreased, on average, with 24.4 percent countrywide. The concentration of Romani children increased especially in those schools in which the rate of Romani students already exceeded 25 percent in 1993. According to the mentioned study, the rate of Romani students increased with 36,9 percent by 1999, while the percent of non-Romani students decreased radically with 32,7 percent. Overall, in these types of schools, the percent of Romani students increased from 18,6 to 24,3 percents in ten years, due to the segregation mechanisms that persist in housing conditions.

The basic trend indicates that if the percentage of Romani students is above of 20-30% within a school population but remains under 60-70, then schools develop homogeneous Romani classes.[23] Generally in reaction to the increasing number of Romani students, the number of non-Romani students start to decrease which enhances the overall proportion of Romani children in the school. To prevent non-Romani parents from taking their children out of the school, directors try to separate Romani children from non-Romani children in segregated, homogenous classes.[24] Schools have a strong interest to keep all children there otherwise they loose the state fund given per capita.

It can also be shown that the learning environment of pupils is worse than in other schools in which non-Romani students are registered in a higher proportion. The size of the Romani population, the number and size of the schools in the town, the housing conditions, local atmosphere and other factors all contribute to the unequal chances in education.

Based on multidimensional set of prerequisites segregation of Romani students may appear between schools in the town. The typical manifestations of form of segregation is the presence of either remedial special schools for the mentally handicapped or inferior ghetto schools, although in some cases a combination of these two is also perceivable. According to the research of the Hungarian Ombudsman the proportion of Romani students in remedial special schools is approximately 6-7 times higher than the rate of Romani children within the education system[25].Another form of segregation prevails within a school, between classes. There are nearly 700 segregated classes in the country, which offer substandard education for approximately eight thousands Romani students (10 percent of all Romani students)[26].

The legal status of the private student, originally intended to allow out of school instruction for talented children, has become systematically contorted by school officials into a uniquely Hungarian form of segregation though which Romani children are denied equal education. In effect, schools use this technique to expel Romani children from their schools. Research reveal that once children are taken out of normal classes the school practically ceases as an educational institution for them. Romani pupils are thus left on their own with the difficulties of studying and preparing for exams even though law regulates that the school must continue to be actively involved in their education at least until the school-leaving age.

The basic trend indicates that if the percentage of Romani students is above of 20-30% within a school population but remains under 60-70, then schools develop homogeneous Romani classes.[27] Generally in reaction to the increasing number of Romani students, the number of non-Romani students start to decrease which enhances the overall proportion of Romani children in the school. To prevent non-Romani parents from taking their children out of the school, directors try to separate Romani children from non-Romani children in segregated, homogenous classes.[28] Schools have a strong interest to keep all children there otherwise they loose the state fund given per capita.

According to a survey, carried out in the 1999/2001 semester out of the 2722 classes examined in 192 schools, there were 311 completely homogenous Romani classes.[29] Which means that almost every 6^th class (17,2%) was a “Gypsy class” among schools in which the rate of Romani students exceeded 40%. Based on this research and on the estimations of sociologists there are approximately 700 homogenous Romani classes in the country, which implies that more than 8000 Romani students study in a completely segregated environment suffering all its social, cultural and stigmatising disadvantages both short and long term[30]. Nation-wide the same research reckons that 10% of Romani students are subjected to segregation in primary schools.

According to other research[31] out of the 85[32] examined regular primary schools, 20 ran special classes (i.e. 25,5 % of all schools). Most special classes have pupils from different age groups (merged classes), and have often been formed by rational criteria, rather than pedagogic considerations. Teaching such „mixed” special classes is a huge challenge to the teacher, as it requires addressing very different needs, personalities with a pool of knowledge that is equally widespread, since the pupils there come with difficulties in various areas. This structure expects far too much of the teacher, and certainly does not help the pupils learn how to study. Although the rate of Romani students was only 26,84% within the examined school population, their rate in the remedial classes was much higher. According to the data 67,92% of students were Romani in remedial classes. There were three classes of lower elementary school having pupils from different age groups (merged classes) in which the percent of Romani students was above 91%.

The existence of homogenous Roma or non-Roma classes in mixed schools can be justified in a number of ways. Dividing classes based on the capability of students is perhaps most common. School officials can introduce more advanced classes with special programs for talented pupils. Conversely catch-up or remedial classes can be established for students who are having difficulties in keeping pace with the regular curricula. While such divisions appear to be free of ethnic considerations, the fact is that both techniques are extremely effective ways to create homogenous Roma and non-Roma classes. While advanced classes keep Roma out, catch-up classes, sometimes in the context of minority education, are full of Romani pupils who receive a lower quality of education and who never actually catch-up. In fact, the segregation of Roma and non-Roma pupils in different classes of the same school rarely has anything to do with objectively measured capabilities of the children. In most cases it is the outcome of prejudice, with non-Romani parents refusing to allow their children to be taught together with Roma.

The segregation of Romani children in the Hungarian education system entails countless disadvantages which can be summarised by: unequal access to quality education. Stressing hereby some of these disadvantages: substandard education; undemanding requirements in school; worse conditions in school facilities, equipment and buildings; less qualified teachers teaching them; diminished self-esteem and minimal chance to be employed. A further evident disadvantage is that segregation hampers the encounter with the expectations of the majority society and its opportunities meet the minority culture.

Subsequently there was only one nation-wide examination trying to reveal the extent of segregation. It was carried out for the request of the Ombudsman in 1999[33] and it presented shocking data about the segregation of Romani students. According to the data approximately half (42,6%) of the remedial school population are Romani, which means that their proportion is 6-7 times higher in this school type. There is some county where the rate is even more extreme: in BAZ county 94% of students in remedial school were Romani in 1998. According to another research rate of Romani students studying by bias curriculum approached 67,92 percent in the country.[34]

High proportion of Roma in the remedial education system in Hungary

The discriminatory practice – to place disproportionate number of Romani children in remedial special schools – has been revealed already in the 70s-80s.[35] In the last decades there were numerous comprehensive pieces of research. Although all agreed that Romani students are placed in remedial specials school in striking numbers, the research outcomes concerning the exact percentage vary greatly.

In 1997 the Hungarian ombudsman[36] prepared a comprehensive investigation on minority education with an emphasis on remedial special schools. According to the report, the number of Romani pupils was extremely high at these places. Their proportion is approximately 6-7 times higher than the average rate of Romani children within the education system. Sociologists and professionals on that field reckon similarly[37]. Additionally, the examination revealed that their rate had been steadily increasing during the last three decades. Although in the academic year of 1974/75 this rate was already a surprisingly high 26.1%, it further increased and reached 42.6% in the academic year of 1992/93. (see Table).

Table

Romani students in remedial special schools

Semester	All students (a)	Romani students (b)	Rate (b/a)
1974/75	29 617	7 730	26.1%
1977/78	31 666	9 753	30.8%
1981/82	33 079	12 107	36.6%
1985/86	39 395	15 640	39.7%
1992/93	32 099	13 662	42.6%

Source: Romani Students in the Primary and Secondary Education. Budapest: TARKI, 1986 (first 4 lines); MKM Statistical Major Department (last line), (Kaltenbach, 1999)[38]

As the minority commissioner points out in his investigation on minority education remedial special schools create opportunities for indirect discrimination towards Romani students, as well as for segregation, separation and artificial exclusion.

TÁRKI in 2001 undertook another research[39], in which representatives of local government tried to estimate the number of Romani and non-Romani students in remedial special school. The research took place in the countryside and did not include schools of the capital. The results of the research are hardly acceptable taking into consideration that answers were given by the local government officers who could have manipulated data or simply misjudged the identity and, as a result, the number of Romani students. Based on the answers of 756 local governments countrywide, 4,5 percent of the school population attend remedial special school, while regarding Roma this rate approaches 13,5 percent. Narrowing down our focus to certain regions the outcomes are still more striking. In the Middle Transdanubia (Fejér, Veszprém, Komárom counties) almost five times (19,5 percent) as many Romani students attend remedial school than the average rate (3,9 percent) of students in such schools. Similarly, in schools in Pest County we can find five times as many Romani children (18,1) than the average (3,7). Although this data is questionable because of the methodology, we can not ignore the general tendency that emerges. Surprisingly, in regions where the rate of Romani people is much higher (North Great Plain or North Hungary) the rate of Romani students in such schools is around 10 percent. The research found a parallel between the size of the town and the increasing number of Romani students labelled mentally handicapped. In towns with a population up to 113 thousands the number of Romani students attending remedial schools approached 18 percent.

The curricula of the remedial special schools significantly differ from other national curricula. Lessons are more restricted and miss some academic subjects such as physics, chemistry or foreign languages. After one or two years spent at such schools children will not have a chance of getting back into the normal school system. Instead of the specialised subjects they are taught natural sciences which include only introduction to chemistry, biology and physics. According to the law on Public Education all children have the right to access quality education based on their abilities and natural endowments.[40]

The diminished level of this education type was originally designed for the mentally handicapped, and therefore it is not suitable for the sound-minded Romani children, simply because most of them are not handicapped at all. Such a school is not able to provide them with a satisfactory level of education to develop their knowledge and abilities effectively. For those students who have writing or counting disorder, some of the methods are useful, but these problems could as well be handled and improved in a normal school. The curriculum of one year spent in a remedial special school covers more or less the first half-year curriculum in a normal primary school. By the end of the second year in remedial special school students finish the curriculum of the 3^rd semester in the normal school. After the third year spent in remedial special school children almost reach the necessary knowledge required by the end of the second year of the primary school. After the fifth year in remedial special school they almost complete the curriculum of the 3^rd year. This means that due to this slowed down progress the accumulated disadvantages keep the students back from returning to the normal school forever.

An unintended disruptive factor regarding remedial special schools is that remedial teachers are usually aware of the special problems and treatment and intend to adapt themselves to the children because they discover that otherwise they can not proceed. Teachers are trained to support these children according to their needs, which results in good atmosphere, satisfied children and less failure, which is indeed due to the diminished educational level. Teaching is person-centred and not-achievement centred, which contributes to the fact that children are less traumatised as opposed to the frustration that prevails due to the demanding curriculum in normal schools.

Besides the inferior education standards of remedial schools the lack of systematic measurement also contribute to the fact that Romani children stick to these schools once and for all.

Failures of the transfer procedure

Expert committees apply different tests to measure the IQ level of children. Many sociologists argued against the applicability of these tests, claiming that the questions and tasks fit essentially the knowledge of middle-class children, therefore Romani students can only achieve systematically lower grades. They also point out that the Romani students have a kind of knowledge that is not needed for answering the questions, and which, as a consequence, remains hidden.

Many Romani children would be able to cope with the difficulties if they had sufficient support. Providing them with person-tailored help could result in their increased chances of catching up with the others in 1-2 years. Teachers should pay more attention to these children and the educational system should be more flexible and should offer thoroughfare opportunities between classes in the first demanding school years.

An interview made with the director of a primary school in Miskolc revealed that applying special programs in education (for instance Step by Step program, initiated and granted originally by Soros Foundation) support properly Romani students to develop their learning capacity effectively and to achieve outstandingly good result.

Prejudicial and hostile attitude of the non-Romani environment in normal schools may also contribute to the phenomenon that many Romani parents do not propose against remedial education. Schools with a high proportion of Romani students in particular make Romani parents accept that also their children have to go to these schools.

Some teachers allege that the poor financial background of the families also contributes to the fact that parents acquiesce in the decision that their children are directed to remedial special schools. Sometimes parents request to enrol their children in remedial special schools because they learn that books and meals are provided free of charge here. They are certainly not aware of the fact that these schools provide students with a very limited knowledge and the education level of these schools definitely deprives them of the possibility to study further.

These facts show that the high proportions of Romani students in remedial special schools caused by the lack of effective pedagogical programs and methods to compensate for this also contributes to this situation.

Strong effects of system-oriented processes

Staff and school officers of conservative institutions such as remedial special schools often insist on traditional methods, even if they have certainly faced the criticism that it is unjust to transfer Romani students in such a high proportion to these schools. This narrow-mindedness is connected to the fact that these institutions have to be filled with students and have to provide their staff with employment opportunities. They keep primarily their own interests in sight and often refuse other possibilities that parents may consider on the basis of the high loyalty and respect to their own institution. Furthermore, they often ignore statistical and sociological findings that convincingly prove that many Romani students have been placed there by mistake. The diminished level of education in these remedial special schools is due to numerous factors that we shall present later

The teachers’ expectations and ways of communication affect the children also indirectly. Further, prejudice and rigid, pre-conceived criticism may soon turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy: the Romani children, told off for their low level of self-control or reprimanded for their early difficulties in acquiring well-structured knowledge, will actually turn into unruly or poorly performing youngsters in normal schools. Another effect is that the teacher’s assessment of the Romani children is often taken over, and even enhanced, by the non-Romani pupils, which leads to a deepening conflict between the majority and the minority, and prompts the majority to make the minority liable for all difficulties. The school and its maintainer - the local self-government intend to shift all responsibility back to the family, though they often have an interest to keep the Romani children segregated in a remedial special school. Allocating Romani children in high proportions to normal schools often causes that non-Romani parents take away their children to other schools in the town or in a neighbouring city. In fact it seems that remedial schools need these children much more than those children need these schools.

Romani parents are usually not informed about their rights and opportunities, and are therefore hardly able to assert the rights of their children. Their parental rights are violated numerous ways from the beginning of the transfer procedure till the end of the remedial education of their children.

The parents have to give their approval so that their children carry on their studies in remedial school. The expert committees often formally inform parents about the consequences of the transfer and did not provide sufficient information to help them to understand it with all its short and long-term negative consequences.

The Committee is not allowed to examine the child without parental approval, and the parents have the right to be present at the examination. If the parents do not accept the decision, they can ask for the re-examination of the child from the town-clerk. A further opportunity is to turn to court if they still do not agree with the decision made at the second level. The committee is obliged to provide the parents with information about possibilities of legal remedy. The transfer practise of the expert committees still often violates these prescriptions.

There are numerous criticisms made by educational expert and professionals concerning the high proportion of Romani students in remedial special schools. Educating Romani children in extremely high proportions in remedial special schools is not suitable to eliminate problems between the normal education system and Romani families. The paralysed regular school easily shifts the responsibility of educating Romani children to these remedial institutions which do not actually aim at such a function, and which have basically a different target group. Within 2-3 years Romani children placed there without appropriate support will not be able to catch up with the group which they are segregated from, and end up there forever.

Experts often criticize the reliability and validity of the tests applied by the Expert Committee in the course of deciding whether a Romani child is mentally handicapped or not. They made strong criticism and numerous remarks concerning the applied tests. The reliability of a test concerns the fact that it is not allowed to produce much deviation in results when repeating it.

The validity of a test describes whether a test really measures the articles that it is supposed to measure. It is an outstandingly important issue because children are directed to special schools based on a psychological evaluation including IQ tests. This evaluation procedure should reliably and satisfactorily measure the ability and schooling potential of children to fulfil the requirements of normal school. Interviews with educational experts confirm that Romani children are often directed to schools for mentally handicapped because the psychological evaluation fails. Many interviewees stated that evaluations were based on the measurement of social disadvantage, “socio-cultural damage”, behaviour or culture related factors much more than on intelligence.

Accordingly, there are practical problems related to IQ tests, which largely contribute to the fact that a Romani child is placed in remedial special school. Because of social and cultural reasons Romani children may lack equipment, objects, books and opportunities that would enable them to perform well on tests.

Sometimes Romani children successfully enrol in basic schools but teachers do not want to bother with them and would like to eliminate the ”problematic” student. Despite the fact that the first years of basic school is aimed to provide students with a basic knowledge if children have not had the opportunity to acquire it at home, school tends easily to shift the responsibility back onto the parents. Teachers would often like to get rid of these children who are in need of special attention and development but legal regulation fortunately binds their hands.

Many of these facts and questions are related to the flaws caused by social disadvantage and not exactly to the ability to attend normal education. Obviously the meaning of intelligence includes the answering these kinds of questions as well, but it is also known that these flaws can be well corrected in a short period of time. The real danger of transferring Romani children having flaws based on their social disadvantages into remedial special schools is that they will stay there for eight years – for their entire schooling time. Remedial schools – as we are going to see in the following chapter – further slow down the process of attaining basic knowledge, instead of aiming at rectifying flaws within a year. Instead of developing the abilities of children aiming to successfully re-integrate them in normal classes, the diminished level of education further increases the gap between them and other students in basic schools. After one or two years it is nearly impossible to return and meet the requirements of the normal education system.

According to my interview with Viktória Mohácsi the new educational program aim to improve nation-wide the situation of disadvantaged children and to answers the criticism of remedial education. It implied also the modification of some discriminatory articles in the Hungarian legislation system. They changed educational articles that have negative consequences on many Romani youth and contribute to segregation in the educational system. An important part of the program is to place obstacles in the way of transmitting children – without factual mental defects – to remedial special schools.[41] They want to attain a decrease in the number of Romani children in remedial schools.

Shortcomings of normal schools

Educational experts often ascribe the poor performance of Romani pupils in schools to the inflexibility of the majority school system, and to the inefficient techniques of addressing otherness. They argue that the school ought to adapt to the needs of Romani pupils, and not the other way around, as it is expected today by the dominant pedagogic view.

Hungarian public education aims to provide pupils with high-level theoretical knowledge so that they can move on to the next echelon of the educational system, by succeeding at the admission exams. Schools prefer to invest in talented pupils, who have a good chance of gaining admission to the institutions of the next educational level, as the schools’ standing rests on these admission ratios. Pupils who lack the abilities of independent learning and efficient study face repeated obstacles in school advancement.

A study initiated by the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for National and Ethnic Minority Rights has recently caused a great uproar. The focus of the poll was the prejudices against minorities among fresh graduates of 21 teacher - training colleges. The data of the poll[42] indicated prejudices against minorities in 38,5 % of those asked, and showed mild prejudices in 36,5 % of those asked. Only 7,4 % of the graduates asked proved tolerant with minorities.

Yet today we find Romani teachers in very few schools. According to a study done in 898 elementary schools with a high ratio of Roma pupils, among the 27730 teachers working in kindergartens and schools, only 45 declared themselves Roma[43].

The Council of Europe has put forth a recommendation to ensure the training for teachers of Roma pupils, to make their communication more successful. Romani teacher - training has been a success in many countries. In Hungary, too, there are programs to raise the number of Romani teachers, and to familiarise those teachers who work in close contact with Roma with Romani culture.

The Ministry of Education initiated a program for disadvantaged children to eliminate the short-comings of the normal education system. The program aims to improve the education level of disadvantaged children. According to draft estimation approximately 75 percent of them are Romani. The Ministry of Education applied a unique definition to identify “disadvantaged target group”. If the parents of the children have exactly or less than 8 classes, and receives the family supplementary support than belongs into this category.

Schools trying to integrate Romani children will receive 51.000 HUF/child/year which is a considerable contribution and stimulating amount to reach significant changes. By the launching of the integration program in September 2003, the Ministry of Education has to pass the 39E paragraph of 11/1994 MKM ordinance, that fix the amount of the normative supplementary support. First they would like to start the program in class 1, 5 and 9 which are turning points and times in schools for forming new classes.

A major condition of successful integration will be measured by the bias of Romani percentage of parallel classes in schools. If the difference between two classes is higher that 25% than the school can not receive the Integration quota.

Undoubtedly there are many Romani parents who successfully adapt themselves to the required norms and values of the non-Romani society, although they definitely have to make compromises. The frame of this study and lack of time and place do not let me analyse the difference between successful integration and assimilation. However, we can conclude that both result in crashing of values between Roma and Hungarian society, within Romani families and between the original local Romani community and the Romani family as well. While successful integration presumably embodies keeping some traditional values, assimilation may result in giving up crucial and fundamental principals and traditional values. The price of adaptation may be low or high – depending on subjective judgements.

Barriers of successful integration

The most relevant forms of segregation appear when the rate of Romani students in a given school approaches a certain percentage.[44] In reaction to the increasing number of Romani students the number of non-Romani students starts to decrease, which evidently enhances the quotient of Romani children compared to all children. To inhibit non-Romani parents to take away their children from the school, directors try to separate Romani children from non-Romani. According to our research outcomes, schools certainly can be blamed for launching different programs that aim at creating segregated, homogenous classes.[45] These segregating actions proceed basically in three different ways: schools sort out Romani children; sort out non-Romani children or eliminate Romani children altogether. While ethnic complementary funding contributes to school budget with a considerable amount, ethnic curriculum often serves a good reason to separate Romani students in special classes. Therefore this issue must be examined here from closer.

Helsinki Watch[46] states that in those villages where Romani people comprise a minority, their settlements at least have access to schools, health-care, and municipal services. As opposed to the relatively large number of small villages where Romani people form the overwhelming majority of the population and live under standard with only minimal infrastructure. A typical phenomenon is that if the number of Romani students starts to increase in a school the non-Romani parents take their children out of the schools and enrol them somewhere else, even if they have to travel every day to the next town. Finally there remain only Roma children attending the school.

A set of problems stems from poor conditions of village schools as regards Romani education. Some significant data of a comparative sociological research shows data of schools in which Romani and non-Romani students studied together. The rate of Roma students is considerably high (56%) in village schools, compared to the rate of all the students in villages (37%).[47]

The number and proportion of all Roma and non-Roma students in primary school, differentiated on basis of the settlement types they live, in 1992/93.

Type of settlement	All students (number)	All students (%)	Romani students (number)	Romani students (%)	Rate of Romani students among all (%)
Budapest	166145	15.93	6730	9.07	4.05
County Center	195737	18.77	8031	10.82	4.10
City	291629	27.96	17744	23.90	6.08
Village	381508	37.34	41736