Eu member states

Information about the project/programme/measure/policy (as the case):

1. Title:	Roma Education Programme
2. Rationale:	According to the 2002 census, Roma comprise 2.66% of the population in Macedonia, however the Roma leaders claim that the actual number of Roma is 3 or 4 percent higher due to difficulties in enumerating the Roma population. The Roma represent the most socially and economically disadvantaged ethnic group. Large majority of Roma families survives on social welfare and odd jobs. According to the figures given into the Draft Strategy for Roma in Republic of Macedonia, 24% of the Roma population is illiterate and 30% of Roma have not completed primary education. Only 12% of the children aged 4-7 are involved in any form of pre-school education. The percentage of Roma children enrolled in primary education varies between 90-95% depending on the source of information, but only around 45-50 % of them complete primary education. Comparing the number of Roma students completing primary school in June 2001 and those who have been enrolled in secondary school in September 2001, it can be seen that the transition rate from primary to secondary education for Roma students is around 41%. The number of dropouts with Roma ethnic background is the highest in the Republic of Macedonia. According to the Macedonian Law, the primary education is compulsory for all children aged 7-15 and it is free of charge. The citizens after this age who have not completed their primary education have right to complete the compulsory education at institutions for education of adults. In the academic year 2001-2002, Roma children accounted for 1,7% of all children enrolled in primary schools, but approximately 3% of children of primary school age, placing Roma attendance below the state wide average of 84% ( European Centre for Minority Issues, “Toward Regional Guidelines for Integration of Roma”) Some of the reasons for lower attendance could be found in high direct costs associated with schools (books, transportation, cloths, etc). In same cases children (and their parents) do not have legal documents required by school (citizenship, birth certificate, health certificate etc). Educational attainment of Roma children is lowest in comparison with other ethnic groups. Poverty affects both children’s prospects of attending school and their performance. Children from poor families are more likely not to attend, or drop out of school for a variety of reasons, including: financial and opportunity costs, insufficient information about the benefits of education, substandard housing conditions at home that impede learning and studying, and health status. Extreme poverty suffered by most Roma has contributed to relatively low student enrolment patterns-particularly when it comes to non-compulsory years of schooling (pre-school, secondary and higher education) The Roma Education Project envisages the education system as a pipeline moving children from pre-school to university level of education. The education pipeline for Roma children and youth in Macedonia is small compared with the one of the majority and of other ethnic groups. Constant decrease of the number of Roma students in each next level of education is obvious. Therefore, there is a need for comprehensive intervention in all levels of education, in order to increase the transition rate of Roma students. The main goal of the Roma Education Programme is to help Roma students remain in the school system and improve their school performance and attendance, through positive interventions at all levels of education. The innovative elements in this project may be seen though the possibility of student evaluations of their mentors, as well as the offered additional course ‘Education for social inclusion‘, attended by teachers, secondary school professors as well as by advisors from the Bureau for Development of Education, thus offering this social inclusion dimension to be promoted at all levels of education.
3. Objective(s):	To prepare pre-school age Roma children for entering primary school; To improve the school performance of Roma students aged 7-15 ; To improve the school performance of Roma students aged 15-19; To promote equal opportunities and increase the academic achievements of Roma students at State Universities.
4. Target ethnic group(s):	Around 200 Roma children on pre-school age from 5 local communities in Skopje, Kumanovo and Prilep; Around 600 Roma primary school students (direct beneficiaries)from 5 primary schools “Straso Pindzur” and “Braka Miladinovci” in Skopje, “Hristijan Karpos” and “11 oktomvri” in Kumanovo and “Dobre Jovanovski” in Prilep; Additional 4000 primary school students (indirect beneficiaries); 236 Roma secondary school students from 58 secondary schools in 22 cities throughout the country; 50 Roma university students; Primary school teachers from the 5 project schools (given above) and additional 5 primary schools from Skopje, Kumanovo and Bitola; Parents of the pre-school and primary school beneficiaries; Roma Education Centre’s staff.
5. Involvement of ethnic group in:
Scoping	Three of the NGO’s governing the Roma Education Centres are managed by Roma Co-ordinators, as well as the FOSIM’s operational programme Romaversitas. The Advisory Board of the Programme involves 2 Roma. Roma representatives are also included in the Advisory Boards of the Roma Education Centres.
Implementation	Two Roma project assistants are involved in the project in FOSIM and Romaveritas and 20 Roma staff (teaching and administrative) are involved in the Roma Education Centres.
Assessment	The upper grade students in the Roma Education Centres are given the opportunity to discuss their needs and to take part in the planning of the activities of the centres. The parents participate in regular parents’ meetings on which the needs of their children are discusses as well as the needs for their information on different subjects and later the planning of the educative workshops for parents is done according to these conclusions. The secondary schools students send regular reports in which they evaluate the work of the mentor.
6. Main activities:	Pre-school component Programme activities for pre-school children, aged 3-6 (learning the Macedonian language; improving social and cognitive skills, hygiene practices, etc) Preparation activities for 6-7 years old children for their more successful start in schools (language and math.) Activities for parents (raising awareness of the importance of education, assistance for obtaining all legal documents required by schools, parental skills, health education, etc) Primary school component Intervention activities in primary schools Teacher training in Child-Centred methodologies Anti-bias training for teachers On-site technical assistance for teachers Intervention activities in RECs After-school support activities to children in homework assignments Tutoring activities for additional support in education (for improving the knowledge in specific topics or subjects: Cyrillic and Latin alphabet exercises, Math. other subjects of interest) Regular meetings with parents (informing them about the results of work with their children) Parent workshops (raising awareness, parental skills, debates) Regular co-ordination meetings between school teachers and REC’s educators (in defining complementary approaches and monitoring of student work in schools, organizing joint capacity building activities, organizing joint informal education activities) Secondary school component Scholarships for Roma secondary school students; Mentorship assistance and peer mentoring; Additional academic support (summer camps for Roma scholarship recipients and their mentors). University component Scholarships for Roma university students; Additional academic support
7. Duration of the project:	It started in September 2004 as a three year project. In 2007 it was approved for an extension of additional 3 years by the main donors – USAID.
8. Main results:	Increased number of Roma children enrolled in primary school as a result of the pre-school activities of the RECs(more than 90% of the REC pre-school beneficiaries enrol in first grade); Improved school attainment of the primary school students as a result of the after school support provided by the RECs: 6.77% increase in the retention rate of the primary school students attending the RECs (from 91,24% in 2004/5 to 98,01% in 2006/7); 6,38% increase in the retention rate of the primary school students (from 65,44% in 2004/5 to 71,82% in 2006/7); No drop-out among the primary school students attending the RECs in the last two school years (2005/6 and 2006/7); Improved average school success among the students attending the RECs(from 2,73 in 2004/5 to 2,85 in 2006/7)and all Roma students in the project schools (from 2,58 in 2004/5 to 2,70 in 2006/7) Improved school attainment of the targeted Roma secondary school students: High retention rate(93,6% in 2004/5, 96,3% in 2005/6 and 92,9% in 2006/7); Improved average school success (3,11 in 2004/5, 3,42 in 2005/6 and 3,47 in 2006/7) Improved retention rate of the targeted Roma university students (from 55,5% in 2004/5, 87,5% in 2005/6 and 96,6% in 2006/7); Improved capacity of the schools to meet the needs of the Roma students: Trainings in child-centred methodologies and anti-bias trainings (further explanation provided bellow) provided to more than 200 teachers primary school teachers; 10 primary schools enriched with didactical materials and books; 5 project schools prepared School Improvement Plans incorporating objectives concerning the education of Roma students and participation of Roma parents in the school; 3 project schools introduced to the concept of Intercultural education and incorporated intercultural activities in their annual school programs; *Training in “Education for social inclusion” was provided for the project staff and intermediate beneficiaries. This training was developed by OSI-New York and was tested in practice in Eastern and Central Europe in a period of three years. The training delivered in Macedonia is a compilation of the positive workshops from the programme by Nancy Jean Smith and Edgar Lamping from USA, Zorica Trikic and Jelena Vranjasevic from Serbia, Jelena Vidmar from Slovenia, Margo Kodzor from Hungary, Peter Repicky from Slovakia and Stefka Dincijska from Bulgaria. In the period 2005-2007 the training was realized with: the FOSIM Roma Education Programme staff, 25 REC staff (management and educators); 230 teachers from 10 primary schools; 95 secondary school professors – mentors of the scholarship recipients; 22 advisors from the Bureau for Development of Education.
9. Total budget and sources of funding:	Total budget for 2004-2007 = 3,054,760 $; Extension 2008-2010 = 1,381,000 $
10. Assessment of effectiveness:	For the needs of the REP, detailed research into the situation of Roma in the Republic of Macedonia was carried out in 2004, with a special focus on their educational status. As a result of this research, a Baseline Study was prepared which pinpointed the key problems and conditions that influence the adverse status of Roma, especially of Roma youth in the area of education. These conclusions were used in the development and modification of the REP and in its implementation. For the purpose of maintaining and improving the quality of the programme implementation a periodical evaluation is conducted after the end of each school year. The evaluation team uses the following research methods in order to collect valid data to cover all research objectives - with a special focus on regular attendance and success/achievements of students in primary, secondary and university education: School Documentation analysis: Defining of the real status of student attendance/absenteeism, progression and achievements in primary and secondary education Portfolios: Pre-school children portfolios provided by RECs Questionnaires: Teachers in primary (with and without SBS and RWCT training) and secondary education (both mentors and non-mentors); Educators from RECs; Parents of students from primary schools attending the FOSIM-supported Roma Education Centres) Questionnaires: university students- scholarship recipients Focus group discussions: Parents of students - scholarship recipients in secondary education; Roma university students.
11. Sustainability:	Part of the project interventions have been recognized by the government institutions (both central and local) as good practices which bring results (such as the out-of-school support for primary school students and the scholarship and mentorship scheme). However, no efforts have been undertaken to financially support such interventions. FOSIM will advocate for the government to take over the implementation of the project interventions beyond the project life.
12. Difficulties and reasons of insuccess (if any):	Republic of Macedonia has affirmative policies in terms of anti-discrimination protection. However, the government education policy implementation is not consistent in terms of provision of equal access and opportunities for all. For example, although education is declarative free and accessible to all, the students are obliged to purchase the school books and there are no financial incentives for economically disadvantaged children.
13. Transferability:	There is a horizontal transferability of the scholarship scheme (on a new cohort of Roma secondary students) in another FOSIM project supported again by a foreign donor (Roma Education Fund). Having into account the state limited resources, the possibility to get access to EU funds should be seen as a window of opportunity for transferring the good practice in other EU and non-EU countries as well as ensuring sustainability of these interventions on a national level. This practice can serve as a good tool to show that obstacles in providing and accessing education for and by Roma people can be overcome if the main prejudices existing among Roma but also in general public are contradicted with good, inclusive educational practices. Also establishing a good and continual link between all levels - pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, as well between the Ministry and the Roma parents is of paramount importance.

Applied Education for Young Roma
Organisations involved in the project/programme/measure/policy (as the case):

Initiating group/ Implementing organisation

Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation (MCIC) Nikola Parapunov bb PO Box 55,1060 Skopje, fYRoM Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Contact person: Dimce Mitreski Head of Development Department E-mail: [e-mail] www.mcms.org.mk

Profile of Partners

Ministry of Education and Science - Department for Development and Promotion of Education in Languages of the Minorities, Bureau for Development of Education Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in partnership with Co-ordination of Roma NGOs “Roma 2002” 13 organizations and 15 primary schools from 11 towns in Macedonia: OU “Jane Sandbanks”, DRJL “Darhija”, OU “Dane Krapcev” ,ZZR ”Esma”, OU “26 Juli”, COP ”Dendo vas” and OU ”Straso Pindzur” from Skopje; CRZ “Drom”, OU ”Hristijan Todorovski-Karpos”, ROZM “Daja” and OU “Krste Petkov Misirkov” from Kumanovo; “Feliks” and OU “Gjorgi Sugarev” from Bitola; HDZR “Mesecina”and OU “Bratstvo i Edinstvo” from Gostivar; HDZR “Kham” and OU “Vanco Prke” from Delcevo; OU “Blagoj Kirkov” from Veles, “Romani Asvin”,”Sa o Roma” and OU “Goce Delcev” from Stip; HDZR “Mesecina-Debar branch” and OU“Bratstvo-Edinstvo” from Debar; HDZR “Mesecina” Kicevo branch and OU “Sande Sterjoski” from Kicevo, HO “Help for the Handicapped and Poor People” and OU ”Dobre Jovanovski” from Prilep; CKKER ”Svetla Idnina”and OU “ Malina Popivanova” from Kocani.