Foundations, the Dendo Vas education support centre
and the Foundation for Education and Cultural Initiatives
‘Step by Step’. It focuses on irregular attendance and low
transition rates to upper primary grades. Scholarships
worth EUR 400 per year have been awarded to almost
300 Roma first-graders from families that already receive
social assistance, paid on condition of regular attendance
for three years.
Funding does not need to be directly related to education
to compensate for socio-economic disadvantage.
Countries report their use of social protection
programmes unevenly, which suggests education
ministries may not be fully aware of such programmes’
indirect impact on education objectives. Family or child
allowances are a common measure, reported by 14 of
the 30 education systems reviewed. In Mongolia, every
school-age child from the Dukha ethnic group is entitled
to a monthly allowance equal to 50% of the minimum
living standard. In Slovakia, disadvantaged families receive
a child allowance of EUR 25 a month conditional on
attending compulsory education (Council of Europe, 2019).
Latvia awards disability pensions or tax relief for families,
thanks to strong cooperation between the education
and health ministries. Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine
offer medical-technical aid, such as speech therapy and
psychological support.
External financing has been critical in prompting
inclusive education reforms
Donors have supported central and local governments
in the region in implementing inclusive education
programmes. The Asian Development Bank,
European Commission (mainly through its European
Neighbourhood Instrument), German Corporation for
International Cooperation (better known as GIZ), UNICEF,
USAID and World Bank are examples. For instance, the
Monitoring and Evaluation of Inclusive Education project
in Serbia was developed in the framework of World Bank
technical assistance and funded by the Western Balkans
Investment Framework trust fund (Friedman et al., 2015).
Turkey has run a conditional cash transfer programme
since 2003. An initial evaluation found significant positive
effects on the secondary school enrolment rate among
14- to 17-year-olds, especially in rural areas, where the
probability of being enrolled increased by 17% and,
for boys, as much as 23% (Ahmed et al., 2007). The
government scaled up the programme and extended it
in May 2017 to reach Syrian and other refugee children. It
is implemented through a partnership of the Ministry of
Family, Labour and Social Services, Ministry of National
Education, Turkish Red Crescent, European Commission
and UNICEF. By June 2019, more than 500,000 students
regularly attending school were receiving transfers of
between US$6 and US$10 per month; 83% of the families
also received monthly Emergency Social Safety Net
grants of US$20 per family member (Turkey Government
and European Commission, 2019).
The EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe receive
European Social Fund (ESF) support aimed at improving
social inclusion. In Estonia, the ESF-supported Developing
an Educational Counselling System project aims to
ensure early childhood intervention throughout the
country, improve the counselling system and train service
providers. The Rajaleidja (Pathfinder) counselling centres
established through the project will aim to improve
collaboration between the education, social affairs and
healthcare sectors to identify the particular needs of
children with special needs and their families and provide
them with support.
In Slovakia, School Open to Everyone, another ESF-
supported project, has designed a new education model
that promotes inclusion of children from marginalized
Roma communities. The model has been tested in seven
of the country’s less developed regions. The project
aims to ensure that everyone has access to high-quality
education by training teachers, assistants and other
education professionals.
While the short-term benefits of such actions are positive,
questions arise regarding their long-term sustainability
and how dependent countries are on external funding.
Both national authorities and international organizations
should aim to ensure ownership of the results by local
stakeholders.
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