During the ongoing transitional process, the Roma population has been experiencing more challenges than other ethic groups have in the country. Despite that the Constitution ensures equal status and rights to the Roma ethnic group as to others, in reality Roma people are the most subjected to prejudices encountered throughout the country, with negative perceptions attached to the Gypsies. Unemployment and the resulting poverty are more prevalent among the Roma population.
Such social and economic exclusions translate into wellbeing of the Roma children and women below the national standard. Only 60% of Roma woman are literate while 93% nationwide, affecting lower health, nutritional and education status of their children. Low educational attainment among Roma women are mostly attributed to traditional values that place emphasis on early marriage and motherhood of girls as early as 15 years of age. The language may come as the second inhabitant since the schools use Macedonian language, not their native tongue of Roma.
A UNICEF commissioned study in 1999 revealed the poor living condition and educational attainment that the Roma faced in Skopje Suto Orizari Municipality, largely populated by the ethic group:
28% lived in improvised dwellings, while over 40% in less than 5m2 per person;
56% of the mothers have not completed primary or basic education;
Only 36% of the boys and 30% of the girls regularly attended school.
This disparity is confirmed at the national level by available data in the education sector disaggregated by ethnic group (source: MICS, 2005-2006):
Net primary school attendance ratio is 61.1% among Roma children (95% at national level);
Primary completion rate is 44.6% among Roma children (83% at national level)
Net secondary school attendance ration is 17.4% among Roma (63% at national level);
Transition rate to secondary school is 26.9% among Roma (95% at national level)
3. Objective(s):
Overall, the project aimed to improve the general condition of the Roma in Macedonia, with specific focus on improving access to education of Roma children, young girls and women. The specific project objectives were:
Improve access to quality formal primary and secondary education;
Improve quality of primary education;
Improve learning environment at schools with a large number of Roma children and facilitate community learning;
Decrease overall drop-out and truancy rates. Increase retention rates in primary schools, with focus on the grades with high drop-out rates; Increase transition rates to secondary schools;
Increase accountability of the communities and parents and other social policy stakeholders;
Facilitate non-formal education opportunities for Roma young girls and mothers.
4. Target ethnic group(s):
Roma population: school aged children with focus on girls, illiterate young girls, and mothers.
The municipalities selected for the implementation of the project represent the largest Roma communities and settlements, according to latest census data. In addition, the following vulnerability criteria were taken into account in the selection of project municipalities: i) high density of population, ii) low employment rates, iii) low educational status, iv) dependency on social transfers, v) willingness of local schools to collaborate, vi) presence and activity of local NGOs, vii) organisational capacity of the local community, viii) as well as UNICEF familiarity with the community and its needs.
Local NGOs and some Roma communities were involved in defining the overall scope of the project, which ensured that activities were tailored to the specific needs of the targeted municipality.
Implementation
Roma people, especially girls and women, were heavily involved in the implementation of non-formal education activities, in particular home-based health better parenting education, and early childhood development.
Assessment
Participants expressed their level of satisfaction through evaluation forms, which were then used in the monitoring and evaluation reports.
6. Main activities:
Policy Improvement
During 2004, the Ministry of Education and Science was assisted to prepare the National Education Strategy, i.e. National Programme for Education Development (2005-2015). Further, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection’s Department of Child Protection was supported to develop programmes for the most marginalized children, including Roma children.
A database on education was established in the Bureau for Education Development. Data for the school years 2004/05 and 2005/06 were entered into the database for comparative analyses between the two school years including trends on enrolment and drop-outs. The Bureau will be able to utilize these data as a baseline to guide and monitor their future actions in the sector.
Formal Education
Primary School Education: 12 schools with high attendance of Roma children were supported with minor renovation of the school facilities, training of teaching staff on quality and more responsive teaching methods, establishing responsibilities among staff in working toward full enrolment and retention of Roma children.
Innovative element included going beyond teaching at school and covered teaching skills and knowledge for tutoring homework assignments, languages, and reading and writing skills. Creative elements can be seen in the organized training for members of parents’ boards and school councils on outreach activities in the targeted community. These trainings aimed at supporting parents to assume greater responsibilities to improve the overall school life of children, and school staff to do outreach activities in the community to increase attendance of Roma children.
Adult education: The project also assisted in providing adult education (primary education) for parents as evening schools. More than 480 parents and young girls completed their primary education. It also empowered the parents to more actively support for education of their children. Roma people themselves valued opportunities for learning in evening schools and UNICEF received requests for support from many NGOs, schools and communities outside the project area. This indicates growing demand and interest for local people and authorities to recognize positive impacts that community based activities can bring to their communities.
Non-Formal Education
In 2004, Lifestart Better Parenting Initiative reached 1,100 families and their 6,000 children and young girls in 12 municipalities. The parents were provided with information on how to monitor, support and stimulate their child’s growth and development.
In 2005, the Initiative covered 1,369 parents of children aged up to 3 years and over 2,600 children of age 3-6 years in 19 communities within all 12 targeted municipalities. The parents and caregivers participated in weekly group meetings at the centres to learn about different stages and aspects of child growth and development. The children attended centre-based early childhood learning and recreational activities on week days. They aimed to stimulate creativities and develop cognitive and speaking capacities.
Also in 2005, the home and community-based health education reached a total of 5,000 families in targeted 12 municipalities. Regular health education took place as part of the better parenting sessions for the parents of all children of age up to 15 years, attending activities at community centres. Special sessions were also held as requested by communities or health institutions. For example, during the European Immunization Weeks of 10th through 23rd October, the Ministry of Health and the immunization units organized health education sessions for parents on immunization related issues.
Home-based basic literacy and numeracy lessons were provided to over 550 young girls and mothers at home in 2004, and 590 in 2005. The educational materials were developed for targeting Roma population, with contexts relevant to their needs and circumstances, including cooking recipes, health information, child-rearing suggestions, and other daily tasks. Community educators provided sessions based on the materials following the training by NGO partners. At the end of 3 to 4-month sessions (three lessons per week), they became able to read, write, and manage simple calculations.
Community Mobilization
A public awareness raising campaign took place in 2005 on promotion of the importance of education among Roma girls. The campaign based on a “real life approach” was comprised of five documentaries which portrayed the life of an ordinary Roma child from the target communities. Eight private TV stations nationwide broadcasted:
One 30-second TV spot announcement of 5 documentaries on Roma children;
Five 5-minute documentaries of the life of Roma girls with focus on education;
One 30-munite documentary covering the five documentaries, with interviews of relevant ministries and counterparts, and UNICEF.
The TV documentaries were estimated to have reached approximately 200,000 viewers.
7. Duration of the project:
17 November 2003 – 31 December 2006
8. Main results:
At the national and policy level, the project helped the Ministry of Education and Science to increase their attention to the education of Roma children. This is reflected in various educational policies and plans prepared, including the National Programme for Education Development, National Programmes for Primary Education and Pre-primary Education, and others. In 2006, the Bureau of Education Development developed specialized curricula for compensatory primary adult education.
At the school level: introduced quality and sensitive teaching methods; improved focus on achieving full enrolment without drop-outs; fewer drop-out and failures to complete their grades (112 children or 1.63% in 2005/2006 from 137 children or 1.78% in 2005/2006.); increased awareness among teachers of the presence of Roma and their specialized needs due to their marginalized social status; catch-up classes and supplementary classes organized by schools.
At the community level: 19 communities established a Local Community Council, which conducted needs assessment, developed action plans for improving school enrolment and retention; Community educators along with the Councils organized activities at the centres; increasing number of local communities expressed interest in participating in the project.
At the household level, more families became more equipped to provide better parenting care for children: more stimuli for small children and more homework support for school children. More parents and caregivers take individual responsibilities in supporting learning of their children.
Overall, the project proved to be an effective model for promoting education, particularly because of its holistic approach in addressing children’s needs and rights in their immediate family and community environment. Community-based interventions were combined and closely coordinated with school-based activities.
9. Total budget and sources of funding:
US$ 450,000 Council of Europe Development Bank
US$ 330,532 French Committee for UNICEF
10. Assessment of effectiveness:
No external evaluation of the whole project was carried out to measure effectiveness against the set objectives. However through the project monitoring and evaluation mechanisms UNICEF and the MoES gained general overview on the project impact:
Access to quality formal primary and secondary education was improved through school outreach activities aiming at identifying Roma children and youth and enrolling them in school;
The quality of primary education was improved through in-service training of teachers focussed on improving of their teaching skills. The implementation of these methodologies of work in their every day work with the children was regularly monitored by the BDE advisors and the expert team which conducted the trainings. An evaluation of the training conducted by the MoES in late 2006 indicates that the training was very well received and had an impact on the quality of services provided to children.
The learning environment in 12 project schools was improved through minor physical rehabilitation work;
Overall drop-out and truancy rates decreased in all project municipalities.
11. Sustainability:
The project has contributed to the national efforts for increasing school enrolment and decreasing drop-outs among Roma children. It also revealed that full inclusion of Roma children in the education process depends on a variety of factors which are part of broader challenges for the education sector in the country. The project has challenged and supported schools to be proactive and reach out for children in their communities.
The non-formal education activities implemented in the local community centres have shown great impact on the target population. As positive examples, some of the Municipalities (3 out of 19) started to take over the financing of the centre based activities which is encouraging as far as sustainability is concerned.
12. Difficulties and reasons of insuccess (if any):
Difficulties in implementing project measures were not specific, but depended on the overall conditions, such as low resource allocation for education, absence of state involvement in the non-formal education as well as lack of resources in Roma communities.
13. Transferability:
The project made positive impact on the target population, on the every day school work, on the community involvement in the education, the involvement of parents and their perceptions on the importance of education, etc.
Some of the practices introduced with the project are transferable. For instance, at policy level (vertical transferability), the work initiated with the project is informing the Child Friendly School initiative (CFS), which is currently being piloted in 5 primary schools. The CFS aims at developing a model which will be used to address all aspects of quality education at school level and at the same time influence changes at policy, legislative and budgetary levels. One major component of the CFS is inclusiveness, so the initiative is very relevant to address issues of discrimination against certain ethnic groups.
Also, the great involvement of the local communities indicates that some of the positive impact will remain especially with the decentralization process and the raised awareness of the Municipalities about the importance to invest in the education of their children and families.
Overall, the project proved to be an effective model for promoting education, particularly because of its holistic approach in addressing children’s needs and rights in their immediate family, and community environment. In this respect, the strength of the project resides in the mix of interventions at household, community, school and policy levels.
Lastly, the project showed that adult education (targeting in particular illiterate girls above 15 and women) and non-formal education activities (targeting children in primary school age who are completely out of the system) are critical to reduce vulnerability and social exclusion among Roma. Regrettably, though, these kinds of interventions are still fully dependent on external funding. Without adequate public investment in this sector is unlikely that sustainable results will be achieved in the future.
KOSOVO (as defined by UNSCR 1244) Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Catch up Classes Organisations involved in the project/programme/measure/policy (as the case):
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST)
Address: Prishtina, Kosovo
Contact person: Enesa Kadiq, Head of Unit on Minority and Gender Education
Phone: ++381 38 541 063
Email: enesa.kadiq@ks-gov.net
Profile of Partners
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
Information about the project/programme/measure/policy (as the case):
1. Title:
Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) Catch up Classes
2. Rationale:
RAE has been identified as one of the most vulnerable and marginalized group in education. Social inclusion in general and inclusion in education in particular is still very low regarding the integration in the system. Difficulties starting from enrolment, equity and equality and participation are persistent in the community of RAE due to their cultural, social and economic incongruities. Compared to the situation of the same group in the region, the problems and difficulties these communities face in Kosovo are similar, however, developments during the war and in the post war Kosovo resulted with internal displacement and taking refugee in neighbouring countries. Assessments made by the UN show that after the conflict of 1999, participation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the total population of Kosovo dropped from 100,000 down to 35-40,000 members, presumably influencing significantly their inclusion in the system of education.
The project aims at raising the level of education of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) children to the point that allows their enrolment into primary and secondary mainstream education. Extra-curriculum activities are planned to foster the engagement of RAE children with their non-RAE peers at mainstream schools to enable a full integration in the school system.
The project aims at having an intensive programme for the education of RAE children of the age (9-20 living in Kosovo as well as returnees) to attend two grades/classes within one school year to be integrated at the relevant level of mainstream education.
3. Objective(s):
The objectives of the project are:
To assist Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) in providing quality education specifically targeted to ethnic groups.
To raise the level of education of around 700 RAE children with a view to their enrolment into mainstream secondary school.
To assist with the engagement of RAE children with their non-RAE children peers at mainstream schools, thus helping to foment a climate of greater inter-ethnic tolerance.
In 2007 we provided books for the catch-up classes attendees we provided all the materials for the mainstream
4. Target ethnic group(s):
The ethnic group aimed RAE community.
The estimated data show that the project during the 2004-07 aims to include 700 RAE children in the project in one year. The target group are RAE children of the primary education age (9-20)
The project was developed in 9 municipalities where the majority of RAE communities live (Fushe Kosove, Lipjan, Shtime, Prishtina, Prizren, Gjakove, Istog, Peje, Suhareke)
The estimated number of RAE children from 0-8 in these municipalities was 7.100 and the estimated number of children enrolled in the educational system was 3.220.
5. Involvement of ethnic group in:
Scoping
In the project there was a significant involvement of ethnic RAE municipal co-ordinators in the municipalities who were in charge of coordinating and monitoring the project implementation. Their involvement was particularly, in the identification of children of the school age, grade/level of education, registration and collection of data in municipalities where there was a lack of any data on RAE children.
Implementation
RAE municipal co-ordinators were included in the implementation and sustainability of the project. They were particularly involved in monitoring and evaluation of the project and reporting to MEST and OSCE.
Assessment
The assessment was done by the municipal co-ordinators through regular meetings with the parents of the beneficiaries as well as school directors, Municipal Educational Directorate officials, MEST officials in the central level, teachers as well as reporting to MEST and OSCE. Although not based on data, the meetings and focus groups have shown satisfactory results from the beneficiaries (reports)
6. Main activities:
Creation of a network between OSCE field staff and local co-ordinators and MEST in the municipal and central level
Continuous liaison with and support to MEST by the OSCE project manager
Provision of intensive catch-up class programme with condensed regular curriculum of the mainstream education
Extra-curriculum activities organised by the local co-ordinators
Certification of RAE students as in the mainstream education to allow them integration in the mainstream education
The collection of data “house to house” from the municipal co-ordinator of the same RAE ethnicity
Enabling RAE children to have the same status as the mainstream children in education
Enabling RAE children to attend primary education
Enabling RAE children who finished primary education – catch up classes to attend secondary and adult non-formal training (even for primary education attendees 1-9 free of charge in Prizren and Fushe Kosove)
Finishing two school years in one school year.
Involvement in the schools to get familiar with the school environment and mingling with other ethnic groups in the school premises
Avoiding segregation of RAE children through integration in school and mainstream classes
Comprehensive input and financial support from Municipal Directorate of Education (salaries of teachers), MEST (training of teachers, curriculum, needs assessment and implementation), OSCE (provision of books, notebooks, bags and other material for extracurricular activities)
7. Duration of the project:
2004 - 2007
8. Main results:
The end of school year test results and co-ordinators’ reports stating the names and numbers of enrolees.
The number of registered RAE children in catch-up classes from 2004-07 in 9 municipalities in different levels/grades was 1751 and the ended up enrolling in regular primary classes was 565. However, the primary goal was access of a very marginalized and limited access of RAE children in mainstream education.
MEST has no monitoring and evaluation unit in place that keeps track of the implementation of the projects/programs. The data given was provided by the OSCE officials and the drop-out rate was not measured and it existed to a certain extend.
Monitoring of the project from the OSCE project manager through regular meetings with MEST staff and OSCE field staff and local/municipal co-ordinators as well as reports from MEST.
The reports show that there are evidence of interaction between RAE and non-RAE children particularly through integration activities that take place during the catch-up class project include equal proportions of RAE and non-RAE children.
Teaching and curriculum content of catch-up classes are of the same quality as mainstream cover the necessary areas to prepare children for enrolment in mainstream education.
A better approach would be if co-ordinators would have been teachers.
9. Total budget and sources of funding:
Total budget is 249,817 Euro. Ministry of Education, Science and Technology - 60,200 Euros; MED - 189,617 Euro; OSCE - 142,380 Euro.
10. Assessment of effectiveness:
75% of the starting number of children in catch-up classes regularly attend classes
40-70% of RAE children previously included in catch-up classes enrol in mainstream school in September 2006
35-55% of the new catch-up class attendees enrol in mainstream school in September 2007
Build capacity in MEST to effectively manage catch-up classes programme
11. Sustainability:
Recently the “catch-up classes” concept was replicated and used for the RAE Internally Displaced Persons catch-up classes for children in Mitrovica.
The main approach is being reproduced to deal with Roma Mahalla in Mitrovica to include the RAE families returnees this year.
The project goal was to have an impact in a comprehensive strategy to tackle the lack of access of RAE students to mainstream education. A long-term commitment to RAE education was foreseen to be adopted by Provisional Institutions of Kosovo and supported by OSCE/UNMIK to adequately address the issue of RAE integration in the society. There comprehensive strategy on RAE inclusion is now in place and the strategy on RAE education was just approved by MEST.
12. Difficulties and reasons of insuccess (if any):
The lack of data collection after the registration of RAE in mainstream – no data on drop-out rate to understand better how many RAE children remain in education
The quality of education is lower compared to mainstream education although the same curriculum but condensed time wise
Co-ordinators were not teacher and they were very familiar with curricula and education issues that impacted the evaluation of quality of education.
In Gjakova, children were registered in catch-up classes when they were 6; at the age of 9 they finished the grade 6 and they were underage in the mainstream education. Gjakova municipality did not want to integrate and hold the teaching and learning in a centre and not in a school. Thus, we do not to control the age and the continuation of the catch-up classes.
13. Transferability:
These activities are transferable in emergency cases of returnees.
The practice was not mainstreamed due to the need for implementation of the RAE strategy; however, the project addressed the issue of RAE and gave input to the policy level in the development of RAE strategy.
Horizontally, it was reproduced in the emergency situation of RAE in Mitrovica – Roma Mahalla that needs to act urgently in the inclusion of RAE children in the mainstream education.
The project implements good ideas in case of emergency intervention for access of RAE, the most vulnerable groups where the level of awareness and interest in education is very low.
For this project to be mainstreamed, it needs to be combined with national/local legislation. At the time of implementation of the project, not only there was a lack of policies in the national level for inclusion of RAE minorities but also there was a lack of strategy on pre-university education.
The results of catch-up classes were quoted and considered highly successful in the Strategy for the Development of Pre-University Education.
Mosaic Organisations involved in the project/programme/measure/policy (as the case):
Initiating group/ Implementing organisation
Save the Children in Kosovo
Contact person: Ahmet Kryeziu, Co-ordinator of the Programme
Nazim Hikmet, 4
Dragodan I Arberia
Prishtina, Kosovo
Tel: + 381 (0) 38 249 705 or 248 177/178
Email: ahmet.kryeziu@scik.org
Profile of Partners
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST)
Unit on Preschool Education – MEST
Address: Prishtina, Kosovo
Contact person: Ardita Kajtazi, Head of Unit
Phone: ++381 38 544 983
Email: ardita.kajtazi@ks-gov.net
Information about the project/programme/measure/policy (as the case):
1. Title:
Mosaic
2. Rationale:
Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244) has no long tradition in the development of pre-school programs and there is very little awareness about the role of pre-school education. The overall attendance is less than 10% of children. Additionally, the existence of parallel educational systems in Albanian and Serbian language is a challenge. Due to this, the interaction among communities, particularly Serbian and Albanian communities is not possible.
Mosaic project aims to promote ethno-lingual diversity and conflict resolution skills that are critical tools to advance mutual understanding, tolerance and social inclusion. The issue of language is particularly politicized in Kosovo/a as a symbol of a turbulent past and it can serve as a bridge, promoting the ability to communicate and live together in a vibrant and diverse society.
With this in mind, this project aims to make the pre-school experience worthwhile and productive, setting children up for the future as citizens ready to participate in society as equals with their neighbours, whilst bringing communities together. Targeting children at the earliest stages of their education provides an opportunity to start this process at the point at which they are most flexible, accepting and open as well as too young to have assimilated fear and prejudice of each other. To achieve this it will utilize the innovative Mosaic system of conflict resolution in bilingual and multicultural pre-schools developed that is not a practice in Kosovo.
Mosaic is a unique model of working with entire communities through the channel of bilingual and multi-cultural pre-schools. The Mosaic philosophy is to socialize children into a multi-cultural environment at the earliest possible age, to teach tolerance and respect for the diversity of cultures and to help different ethnic communities collaborate and communicate with each other.
3. Objective(s):
The main objectives of the project are:
To reduce conflict in communities through increasing interaction between members of different ethnic communities.
To enhance the skills of participating teachers to impart Mosaic philosophy
To create a unique space for children in which to initiate communication and build their capacity to solve problems in a bilingual and multi-ethnic environment.
To provide a model of the Mosaic project that can be expanded across Kosovo and owned and sustained by local institutions.
Additionally, Mosaic has a complementary approach:
Community outreach - community outreach activities are key to the success of the project, targeting parents, teachers, kindergarten principals, community leaders and religious leaders, as well as families and individuals to recruit families and children for the Mosaic.
Pedagogical development - pedagogical approach promotes child-centred, modern teaching methods, including the use of IT equipment and modern materials adapted to teach the transformation of conflict in the classroom.
Bilingual, multi-ethnic - bilingual, multi-ethnic community-based approach focuses not only on language, but on culture, tradition and values, promoting cultural exchange in order to overcome fear through familiarization. Each Mosaic group will have one Albanian and one Serbian, Bosniak or Turkish teacher. The ideal number of children is 20, with 10 from each ethno-lingual group. The criteria for registering in Mosaic are not ethnic background, but the language in which the child communicates.
Gender - the curriculum promotes the confidence of all participants, including self-esteem, and breaking down stereotypes. In this way it promotes gender equality by placing value on women and girls as individuals within a patriarchal and traditional society.
Pre-school as a gateway to the entire community - Mosaic uses the pre-school environment as the entry point to the entire community, making the most of young minds which have not yet developed prejudices and fear and building links among kindergarten staff, family and neighbours. This has clear educational and social benefits with the advantage of exposing children to other cultures at an early age.
Pre-school as an investment for the future - youth in particular represent a challenge in achieving a lasting peace in Kosovo, especially given the demographics. However, evidence shows that a pre-school education sets children up for life, “improving educational performance and outcomes… leading to increased cognitive and emotional development, and later decreased criminal activity.”
Teacher training - training of the first group of 2 teachers from each kindergarten, plus 4 alternates (a total of 10) will include topics such as child development, conflict-resolution, bilingualism, communication with children, stereotypes and prejudice and lesson planning.
Security - Save the Children recognizes that participating parents’ foremost concern will be the security of their children and will therefore work closely with the Kosovo Police Service, UNMIK Police, Kosovo Force peacekeepers (KFOR) Civil and Military Cooperation (CIMIC) and municipal authorities to ensure protection of all concerned.
Rehabilitation - School and kindergarten buildings are often in a very poor state of repair. There is only one kindergarten per municipality and more than half of all communities have stated that lack of space - neutral spaces agreeable to all parties - is a major obstacle to participation in the project. Save the Children will assist municipal authorities to upgrade or adapt existing rooms provide safe, and secure spaces acceptable to all ethnic groups.
Expansion and multiplication - Mosaic model fills an urgent need for a model of bilingual and multi-ethnic education in Kosovo, a model which works and achieves results. After the three groups included in the two years of this project are successfully established, Mosaic will then expand at the rate of 3 communities a year across Kosovo, seeking opportunities based on population patterns and need. The eventual target is 12 communities in total.
The professional advisory board is an essential and effective part of the model, providing technical expertise and advice as well as monitoring and sustainability. It serves as both a monitoring body as well as a source of expert advice. It involves representatives from the MEST, the Faculty of Education and specialists involved in the adapting of the model and the training.
4. Target ethnic group(s):
Mosaic groups will have children of mixed ages of between 3 to 5 years old. Communities in which Albanians and an ethnic group, Serbs, Turks, or Bosnian live in reasonably close proximity will be targeted.
Mosaic targets the above mentioned groups in the following municipalities:
Prizren piloting Albanian and Turkish communities and Albanian and Bosnian communities
Peja piloting Albanian and Bosnian communities
Prishtina piloting Albanian and Turkish communities
Obiliq piloting Albanian and Serb communities
Kamenica piloting Albanian and Serb communities
In the above towns/cities the multi-ethnic kindergarten concept is being piloted within the formal kindergartens creating a bilingual environment of children and teachers of both ethnicities. There are mostly 20 children per group of age 3-5.
5. Involvement of ethnic group in:
Scoping
Ethnic groups are mainly involved in the implementation of the project. This means that teachers of different ethnic groups use the same curriculum but implement it in their own language.
Implementation
The implementation of the project has started since April 2007. Prior to the implementation in the classrooms, the design of Mosaic Model started with the identification of local experts/trainers for adapting model and adapting the Macedonian curriculum for Kosovo context, printing the pilot teachers’ manual on Mosaic in local languages and advocating for municipal cost-sharing of teachers’ salary and evaluating.
Subsequently, the Professional Advisory Board (PAB) and Local Experts were identified and established to monitor visits to Mosaic groups. The parents and communities were identified and selected for Mosaic implementation as well as there was a wider community outreach with community leaders, Mosaic parents & teachers and the recruitment and enrolment of children for the Mosaic groups.
The selection of kindergarten, the approval from the officials and rehabilitation, furnish and equipment for Mosaic classrooms continues. Additionally, the teachers were identified, hired and trained (study visits) to develop their capacities.
Advocacy with Government and Local Institutions and the capacity building MEST, Faculty of Ed, Municipal authorities. The future implementation foresees to advocate w/ municipalities & MEST for policy change and to lobby municipalities and MEST for the project’s sustainability.
Since April 2007, there are 5 municipalities piloting based on the language that the children decide on. The curriculum is the pre-school curriculum not necessarily learning on the language of the other but they are exposed to the language. The teachers trained in the philosophy of Mosaic and there are 12- 20 children per class and the teachers are either new or the existing teacher trained in the philosophy of Mosaic.
Assessment
There is almost no assessment yet as the project is still in the first stage of implementation.
There is no monitoring and evaluation unit/mechanism in MEST to asses the impact.
In the project there is the Professional Advisory Board (PAB) that will provide technical expertise and advice as well as monitoring and sustainability. It serves as both a monitoring body as well as a source of expert advice. It involves representatives from the MEST, the Faculty of Education and specialists involved in the adapting of the model and the training.
No involvement of ethnic groups in the assessment.
6. Main activities:
Multicultural classrooms of mixed children and bilingualism but not obligatory to be taught yet to be exposed to.
Medial campaigns for Mosaic in the municipalities
Save the Children part of the working group working on preschool education in the article on inclusion based on the UN Convention on children rights to education
Curriculum was added to the existing curriculum by adding the elements of bilingualism and additional activities (AHMET elaborate).
The groups of children are mixed in the classroom (3-5).
7. Duration of the project:
July 2005 – May 2008
8. Main results:
The idea of starting the project at such early stage, according to the co-ordinator of the programme, provides a better ground for conflict resolution, multiethnic environment and bilingualism that produce tolerance and understanding among children of different ethnicities as they are not yet overly exposed to the ethnic intolerance and conflict.
The training and interaction of teachers in the classroom provides another example of social inclusion and a model of tolerance to children.
The teachers teach in their own native language so they provide a model for interaction to the children.
9. Total budget and sources of funding:
Not provided as being confidential.
10. Assessment of effectiveness:
Interview and focus groups with children, staff, parents and municipal structures.
The number of children has increased the number of registered 36 children in Prizren within a day.
11. Sustainability:
Save the Children has the agreement with MEST to continue and reproduce the initiative Kosovo wide after the piloting phase.
The long-term impact is still not evident as the project has started recently, however the planning as listed in section of implementation foresees the horizontal reproduction such as:
Advocacy with Government and Local Institutions and the capacity building for MEST, Faculty of Ed, Municipal authorities. The future implementation foresees to advocate w/ municipalities & MEST for policy change and to lobby municipalities and MEST for the project’s sustainability.
In addition, Mosaic has the potential to provide the basis for an expansion into other educational levels. The model could contribute to the work MEST is carrying out to develop a curriculum for minorities, and the establishment of similar initiatives at primary school level. To this end, Save the Children will assist MEST to carry out a feasibility study into this at the end of the project.
12. Difficulties and reasons of insuccess (if any):
-
13. Transferability:
Transferability is possible
The practice is not mainstreamed as it is still being piloted. However, the intention of being transferable is planned and the initial structure that enables such transferability is in place with the Professional Advisory Board and the structural networking in MEST
The adaptation of ideas (Mosaic is being implemented in Macedonia) to the Kosovar context. This was a process of initial visits in Macedonia kindergartens where the project is ongoing. The main idea was to gather information on the process of implementation of Mosaic in Macedonia from the kindergarten perspective. Additionally, there have been several meetings with the project manager and implementers and presentations from the Macedonian officials in the pilot kindergartens in Kosovo. The curriculum was also reviewed and the main concepts were adapted to the Kosovar context.
This practice can be operational through the peer visits and dissemination events.
Additionally, reviewing the assessment and evaluation of the pilot project.
Strategy for Integration of Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities in Kosovo (2007- 2017) Organisations involved in the project/programme/measure/policy (as the case):
Initiating group/ Implementing organisation
Kosova Education Centre (KEC)
Address: Matican, Prishtina, Kosovo
Contact person: Dukagjin Pupovci, Head of KEC
Phone: ++ 381 38 244 257
Email: dpupovci@kec-ks.org
Profile of Partners
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST)
