FIVE YEARS LATER: the Nongovernmental Projects for Desegregation of Roma Education in Bulgaria

FIVE YEARS LATER: The Nongovernmental Projects for Desegregation of Roma Education in Bulgaria 1 Contents Introduction 4 1. State Policy on the Desegregation of Roma Education in Bulgaria 2002-2005 6 2. Evaluation Methodology 10 2.1. Research of legislation. Use and generalization of the information accumulated to date by the BHC and by other organizations involved in evaluation of Roma education 10 2.2. Evaluation of the academic achievements in Bulgarian language and in mathematics of the students from the desegregation projects, conducted jointly with the Ministry of Education and Science 10 2.2.1. Selection of the schools and classes for the test 11 2.2.2. Methodology of the evaluation of academic achievements 12 2.2.3. Contents of the tests in Bulgarian language and mathematics 12 2.3. Accumulation of information about the structure, the manner of work and the local support for the projects 13 2.4 On-site research of interethnic attitudes and the attitudes of Roma and Bulgarians towards desegregation 13 3. Generalized Test Results 16 3.1. Methodology for checking and grading the written tests in Bulgarian language and mathematics 16 3.2. Reasons for the exclusion of the results of the segregated school in Haskovo from the final analysis of the results 16 3.3. Generalized results of the evaluation 18 3.3.1. General evaluation of the organization and the attendance rate 18 3.3.2. Average results of Roma children in segregated schools and integrated classes 19 3.3.3. Average results of the Roma children from segregated schools and integrated classes in different cities 19 3.3.4. Comparison between the average results of the Roma children-participants in the programs and of the Bulgarian children from integrated classes in different cities 22 3.4. Comparison between the results of the Roma children from integrated classes in different cities 25 3.5. Conclusion 27 4. Results from the survey of interethnic attitudes and attitudes towards desegregation 28 4.1. The problematic situation 28 4.2. Major conclusions 28 4.3. The image of the minorities in the eyes of the majority 29 4.3.1. Attitudes towards Roma 29 4.3.2. Attitudes towards Turks 32 4.3.3. Attitudes towards Jews 34 4.4. Attitudes towards the rights of ethnic minorities 35 4.5. Attitudes and concepts about behavioural tolerance 36 4.6. Attitude towards the integrated education of the children from minorities 37 4.7. Attitudes of Roma 38 4.7.1. The image of Bulgarian, Turkish and Jewish people in the eyes of Roma 38 4.7.2. Attitudes towards educational desegregation 39 4.7.3. Feelings of discrimination 39 5. Overview of current projects 40 5.1. Vidin 40 5.1.1. General information about the project 40 5.1.2. Project team 42 5.1.3. Academic profile of the project 43 5.1.4. Extracurricular and social activities 45 5.1.5. Political, administrative and public support for the project 45 5.2. Montana 46 5.2.1. General information about the project 46 5.2.2. Project team 48 5.2.3. Academic profile of the project 49 5.2.4. Extracurricular and social activities 52 5.2.5. Political, administrative and public support for the project 52 5.3. Stara Zagora 53 5.3.1. General information about the project 53 5.3.2. Project team 55 5.3.3. Academic profile of the project 56 2 5.3.4. Extracurricular and social activities 58 5.3.5. Political, administrative and public support for the project 59 5.4. Sliven 59 5.4.1. General information about the project 59 5.4.2. Project team 62 5.4.4. Academic profile of the project 63 5.4.4. Extracurricular and social activities 65 5.4.5. Political, administrative and public support for the project 66 5.5. Haskovo 66 5.5.1. General information about the project 66 5.5.2. Project team 68 5.5.3. Academic profile of the project 69 5.5.4. Extracurricular and social activities 71 5.5.5. Political, administrative and public support for the project 71 5.6. Pleven 71 5.6.1. General information about the project 71 5.6.2. Project team 74 5.6.3. Academic profile of the project 75 5.6.4. Extracurricular and social activities 77 5.6.5. Political, administrative and public support for the project 77 5.7. Other desegregation projects 78 5.7.1. The Sofia desegregation project 78 5.7.2. The desegregation project in Plovdiv 80 6. Desegregation and purposes of integrated education 82 6.1. Desegregation and factors influencing academic performance 82 6.1.1. Additional training 82 6.1.2. Quality of the education at the host schools 83 6.1.3. Social status of the parents and the children 84 6.1.4. The education of the parents 85 6.1.5. Racism 86 6.1.6. Religion 87 6.1.7. Individual specifics of the social relations in the family and at school 87 6.1.8. Financial support 88 6.2. Desegregation and interethnic attitudes 88 7. Conclusions and recommendations 90 7.1. Conclusions 90 7.2. Recommendations to the state and to the local authority bodies 90 7.3. Recommendations to non-governmental organizations and to their donors 91 Annex 1: General data about the projects 93 Annex 2: Questionnaire for collecting information about the projects 95 Annex 3: Main socio-demographic characteristics of the Bulgarians and Roma from the survey 98 Annex 4: Number of fourth-graders who took part in the May 2005 testing 99 3 Introduction In 2002 the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) conducted an evaluation of the nongovernmental projects for the desegregation of Roma education in Bulgaria.1 At that time six projects were operating in the country. The projects were implemented by local Roma nongovernmental organizations and were supported by the Roma Participation Program of the Open Society Institute – Budapest. The goal of those projects was and still is integration of the education of Roma children into the system of education of their Bulgarian peers by taking Roma children out of the schools and kindergartens of Roma ghettoes and their subsequent enrolment in the municipal schools outside the ghettoes. The model of desegregation initially accepted by the Vidin project, and subsequently by the rest of the projects in the other cities, included all or most of the following elements: 1. Enrolment of Roma children in as many as possible host schools outside Roma neighbourhoods. 2. Specially hired teachers provided the academic administration of the project by determining (independently or through consultations with other project participants and the host school administrations) a strategy for enrolment, the need for extra academic work with children and the types of extracurricular activities that would be organized, and by supervising the work of the counsellors. 3. The project staff sought out political and social support for desegregation from the local educational authorities, from the Roma community, from non-governmental organizations, and from political parties active in the town. 4. The project hired counsellors, usually one per host school, who met the needs of the enrolled Roma children and of their teachers, and who provided an everyday link between the schools, the project administration, and the parents. 5. The pupils were transported from the Roma neighbourhoods to the host schools in buses specially purchased by the non-governmental organization for the purposes of desegregation and labelled accordingly. 6. The project organized supplementary classes for children who were falling behind in their classes. These were taught by teachers from the host school or by other teachers specially hired for this purpose. The project also provided supplementary preparatory classes during the summer and during other school vacations. 7. The project provided teachers from the host schools with opportunities for additional training, which had to lay special accent on multicultural education. 1 See: Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, The First Steps: An Evaluation of the Nongovernmental Desegregation Projects in Six Bulgarian Cities, Sofia, December 2002, also available at www.bghelsinki.org. 4 8. The project organized extracurricular activities, holiday celebrations, excursions, summer camps, etc., of an explicitly multicultural character, and attracted both Roma and Bulgarian children and parents to participate. 9. The project sought the support of the media, the local educational and municipal authorities and NGOs. 10. The project provided school supplies and meals for the needy participants and in some cases also provided clothing and shoes. 11. The project supported the Roma parents and helped them participate in teacher-parents’ meetings at the host schools and in the occasional meetings organized specially for parents of children in the project. The project staff also made efforts to keep Roma parents informed and to attract them to help with the work on the project. The initial BHC assessment focused only on the administration of the projects, the political, municipal and general support within the respective communities, and on some of the repercussions and obstacles of and to integrated education in Bulgaria. The evaluation contained little, if any, analysis of the academic achievements generated by the projects. It touched upon academic achievement only so far as to present the children’s current grades at a definite time of the school year. The assessment team based their work on the premise that integrated education is undoubtedly and apparently positive in its impact. Other than that, the short term of the projects’ operation itself (most projects had been operating for only a year) rendered any evaluation of the practical effects of integrated education too difficult to make.

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