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1The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina

The Roma Decade The Roma Decade inin

AP VOJVODINAAP VOJVODINAA Monthly Periodical of The Roma Inclusion Offi ce A Monthly Periodical of The Roma Inclusion Offi ce

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no. 1

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A ROMA WOMAN BECAME A ROMA WOMAN BECAME THE SECRETARY OF STATE THE SECRETARY OF STATE

AN INTERVIEWAN INTERVIEW::dr Bojan Pajtićdr Bojan Pajtić

WELL-KNOWN WELL-KNOWN PEOPLEPEOPLE::

Trifun DimićTrifun Dimić

EDUCATIONEDUCATION::The only The only

way to successway to success

A UNIQUE SPACE IN THE BALKANSA UNIQUE SPACE IN THE BALKANS::Roma library in Šangaj Roma library in Šangaj

2 The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina


The International Roma Decade which was offi cially launched in 2005 in Sofi a represents the biggest project on the international level dedicated to the Roma. The go-vernments of central and south-eastern European coun-tries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Mon-tenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain), in which around 10 million of Roma people are living at the economic and social margins of the society, have signed this document.

The main goal of the Decade of Roma is the improve-ment of the position of the Roma in fi elds like education, employment, housing and health. Certain documents and action plans have been created, developed and carried out so far that have directly infl uenced and initiated the im-provement of the position of the Roma.

The Republic of Serbia has also become the part of the International Roma Decade, wrote its own Strategy for the Roma Integration and accepted the action plans for education, employment, housing and health.

If we take into account the fact that the Decade has been going on for the past six years and that, unfortuna-tely, its results are not as visible and noticeable as it has been expected that they would be, and that the Roma who live in rural areas are not that informed about the things that have been done in this fi eld, the main goal of this periodical is to introduce the local, provincial and inter-national institutions and NGOs to the activities which are being carried out in AP Vojvodina. The experiences in solving specifi c problems in particular environments can and should be used as examples for other environments for solving the same or similar issues.

Today, we can proudly introduce the “vojvodina mo-dels” we use for solving the Roma issues because this particular province has done the most for the integration of the members of the Roma national community into the society. Those are exactly the models and the information that we would like to present to the public and to follow and inform them about all the actions that are happening or not happening within the Decade of Roma.

The Team

The Founder and the Published of the Periodical:The Roma Inclusion Offi ce of the Government of

AP Vojvodina

The Editor:Duško Jovanović

The Editor of the Periodical:Igor Dimić

The Team:Jelena JovanovićDragana DimitrovMarija PetkovićRužica Nikolić

Jovana DavidovićVišnja Vujin

Roma Coordinators of APVVitomir Dimić, the photographer

Technical Preparation and Printing:MAXIMA GRAF, Petrovaradin

[email protected]

Circulation: 1000

Address: Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 25,21000 Novi Sad


In 2010, the Offi ce for Roma Inclusion founded by the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvo-dina celebrated four years of its existence. The members of the Offi ce presented and talked about the results of its work at the annual press conference held on December 30th 2010.

The Offi ce for Roma Inclusion was founded by the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina on May 24th 2006 with the main goal to contribute to the position of the Roma people in the fi elds like education, housing, employment, health, human and other rights and as such it is unique and defi nitely fi rst institution of that type not just in the Republic of Serbia, but on the territory of the entire Europe as well. The budget of the Offi ce, which makes it possible to achieve the inclusion of the Roma in the social, public and the political life in the Au-tonomous Province of Vojvodina, is provided by the Go-vernment of AP Vojvodina. The offi ce is supervised by the director, the administrative committee and the watchdog committee who are appointed by the Government of the AP Vojvodina. On the April 25th 2007, the Government of AP Vojvodina appointed Duško Jovanović, a graduate engineer of Agriculture from Tovariševo, as the director of the offi ce. There are fi ve people currently working in this offi ce.

The activities of the offi ce include implementation and enforcement of the Strategy for the Roma integration and the realization of the action plans on the teritory of AP Vojvodina, coordination of the different projects for the integration of the Roma in which the provincial de-partments are also involved. The offi ce is also involved in the realisation of the coordination with the National Co-uncil of the Roma Ethnic Minority, the Council for the intergation of Roma in the AP Vojvodina and some other international organizations. Instigation and the protection of the human rights of the Roma and the monitoring of the integration of Roma na-tional community are also among the most important goals of this offi ce.

During the last four years, the offi ce carried out numerous activities, on its own or together with the Council for Roma Integration, provincial de-partments, local commu-nities and NGOs. Activi-ties and actions related to

the education, employment and housing are among the most important ones.

Activities of the Offi ce which are related to Roma inclusion in the fi eld of education are focusing on provi-ding support for the inclusion of Roma into the education system. This includes providing help during the process of gathering the necessary documents and providing the students with the information about the possibilities of applying for various scholarships and stipends.

Thanks to the application of the measures of the af-fi rmative actions, the enrolment of Roma students into high schools and colleges is strongly supported. In 2007, 151 students were enrolled into high schools and 27 into colleges, in 2008 – 223 students were enrolled into high schools and 94 were enrolled into colleges, in 2009, 78 students were enrolled into high schools and 43 into col-leges. Last year, 94 students started attending high school and 44 students started college. The government of AP Vojvodina paid for the tuition fees of all Roma students from its own budget. The result of this action is that to-day, there is no college in which Roma students are not enrolled. A number of students even got the accommoda-tion and monthly stipends. In order to increase the num-ber of Roma children in different educational institutions, the Offi ce for Roma Inclusion gives stipends for the most successful students.

The cooperation between the Offi ce and the Matica Romska and the Provincial Department of Education is of great importance. The result of that cooperation is the creation of the department for the education of the kin-dergarten teachers who will teach in the Roma language, in the Academy for the Education of Teachers in Vršac.

THE ROMA INCLUSION OFFICE


In this way, for the fi rst time in our country, there is a possibility for the formal education of the Roma teachers who will be teaching classes in their own language. The long-term plan of this project is to increase the number of Roma children in kindergartens and the improvement of the education of Roma people. The offi ce provided the stipends for the best students, the future kindergarten teachers, which are 5.000 dinars, and it also paid their tuition fees. The expenses related to taking the entran-ce exams, the enrollment and the supply of the textbooks are covered by the offi ce as well. In the 2010, in the partnership with the Fund for Development of AP Vovodina, the Offi ce donated the computer equipment for this de-partment.

As far as the activities rela-ted to housing are concerned, the Offi ce works with the local self-governments in order to provide the necessery documents which will solve the problems of the unsuitable and unexisting infra-structure in Roma settlements.

Together with the Provincial Department for the Architecture, Urbanism and Engineering, Opo-vo municipality and Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization of Novi Sad, the Offi ce the Roma in-clusion carried out the project called The Improvement of the Housing in the Third Roma Novo naselje in Opovo. The local population got the necessary instructions, to-ols and materials for the construction of the two houses which were given to the families that were the most so-cially and economically disadvantaged.

The four-year long project of the dislocation of the insanitary Roma settlement from the periphery of Sivac in Kula municipality was realized in 2008 with the purchase of several houses in Sivac. Thriteen houses were bought in which all the in-habitants (and there were around hundred of them) living in that settlement were placed. In 2009, the Fund for the Capital Invest-ments and AP Vojvodina, provi-ded the funding for the construc-tion of the roads in Roma settle-ments in municipalities Odžaci, Žabalj, Žitište, Kovin and Ruma. In Žitište municipality, the pro-blem of the water supply, which affected around 400 Roma fami-

lies was solved. In 2010, three streets in the Roma settle-ment in Vršac were asphalted. With the help of the Fund for the Capital Investments, the reconstruction of three streets in Novi Bečej was also approved and carried out. Currently, there is a plan for the pilot-project for illumi-nating the streets in Roma settlements which will run on alternative energy sources.

The Provincial Secretary for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality, Miroslav Vasin, Duško Jovanović

and Roma coordinator for the Srem region, Dušan Jova-nović, met with Lars Eric Forsberg in Brussles, the assi-stant of the president of the European Comission for the Expansion of the EU who is in charge of Serbia. During that occassion, the representatives of the European Co-mission were introduced with the politics of solving the problems of Roma in Vojvodina, as well as with the re-


sults achieved by the Offi ce for Roma Inclusion related to education, housing and employment. The representatives of the European Comission pointed out that they support the model for the Roma inclusion in Vojvodina, which is completely unique in the entire Europe. During the me-eting, there was a possibility that the project which will provide the housing for 150 Roma families in Vojvodina can be carried out. The European Union is ready to dona-te 6 milion euros for the realization of this partucular pro-ject. Dieter Schinzel was also present at that meeting, as well as some representatives of German investitors who work in the architectural fi eld.

The Offi ce for Roma Inclusion offered help to the participants in the program related to giving the subven-tions for self-employment of the unemployed Roma. This

program was initiated by the Provincial Department of Labour, Employment and Gender Equality and the help include the writing of the business plans and providing resources for the expenses related to the accounting se-rvices in the duration of six months for all approved pro-jects. So far, 50 fi rms whose owners are Roma have been opened through this program.

A large number of different action plans related to the education, health, housing and emplyoment have been accepted because of the Decade of Roma Inclusion. Their implementation is of great importance, especial-ly on the local level. Roma coordinators, appointed by the local self-governments, have a very important role in the implementing and supervising the above-mentio-ned plans and programs. In 2010, the municipalities of


Pančevo and Stara Pazova got their own Roma coordinators. Those people are the link between the lo-cal government and Roma people. Based on the recent results, thanks to these pe-ople a large number of questions and is-sues present in Roma communities have been successfully so-lved. On the territo-ry of AP Vojvodina, Roma coordinators are present in 23 mu-nicipalities. In March 2010, the Offi ce for Roma Inclusion, held a meeting with Roma coordinators from all the municipalities re-lated to the selection for the Roma National Council. Three seminars for the Roma coordinators were held in order to improve the qu-ality of their work and achieving better results.

The activities related to the employment do not seem to stop. Since last year, one Roma woman, who is active-ly involved in the work of the Offi ce, has been working at the Community Health Center in Inđija

The Offi ce also cooperates with various NGOs. The Offi ce for Roma Inclusion, together with the Matica Rom-ska and the Union of the NGOs Dekada Roma, funded by the Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administra-tion and National Communities, organized the donors` conference aimed at the improvement of the position of Roma people in the AP Vojvodina. The participants of this conference were the representatives of the embassies of Hungary, Italy and Germany, the representatives of USAID, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Health Organization, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, The Open Socie-ty Fund, Citizens` Initiatives, Government of the Repu-blic of Serbia and the Government of AP Vojvodina. The aim of this conference was to provide the funding for the projects dedicated to the improvement of the situation of Roma people in Vojvodina. During the conference, the projects related to education, employment, housing, he-alth, sports and the development of the Roma communi-ty, which were written by the Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Communities and the Roma NGOs, were presented.

The Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Admini-stration and National Communities gave 2 milion dinars for the actualization of the affi rmative measures and pro-

cesses for Roma Integration and the continuation of the Roma Decade in 2008. It was also possible to organi-ze the Donors` conference and help the activities of 64 Roma NGOs who were working on the projects which they later presented at this conference. The Offi ce for Roma Inclusion organized seminars for the strengthening of the capacities of Roma NGOs and for making them more skilled and competent for writing the project pro-posals based on the EU model.

One of the numerous activities organized with the help of the local NGOs was the fi eld trip to Bucharest, from May 10th to May 14th, which was organized in col-laboration with the Matica Romska. During the trip, the students visited the Department for the Roma Language at the University of Bucharest and the Ministry of Edu-cation.

During the last year, as the result of the collaboration between the Offi ce, Matica Romska and the City Library from Novi Sad, a small library Trifun Dimić which is the fi rst Roma library in Europe, was opened in Šangaj, a part of Novi Sad.

“The Offi ce for the Roma Inclusion has always had modest requests but it nevertheless managed to achieve great results with them. This is most certainly, one of its best qualities”, said Miroslav Vasin, the Provincial Secre-tary of Labour, Employment and Gender Equality, on the annual conference and summed up the work of the Offi ce in only one sentence.

Romeo Mihajlović


In this interview, dr Bojan Pajtić expressed his opi-nion about the situation of the Roma national community in AP Vojvodina. He also talked about the results that have been achieved so far and about programs and pro-jects that have been carried out in order to improve the educational and socio-economic situation of the Roma. Pajtić also discussed the further plans related to these issues which will continue to focus on the same problems the Roma are currently facing.

We have been living in really diffi cult times, but you always emphasize that this fact actually represents a kind of a challenge for you and your team. Is the global fi -nancial crisis affecting the quality and the effi ciency of solving the problems of Roma national community?

It is more than obvious that the global fi nancial crisis is affecting the whole world and our country as well, but this fact cannot serve as an excuse not to invest maximal efforts and maximal energy, not to come up with some

new ideas and programs and to try to solve the current issues and problems. We have come up with a variety of different programs in order to improve the social and edu-cational status of Roma national community. For us, the Decade of Roma is extremely important. However, we have started a variety of different programs on our own, before the Decade, which mainly focused on breaking of the vicious circle which prevents the Roma from getting a better education because they cannot afford it and li-ving better because they are not educated. It is important to emphasize that we have, in the past four years, through various positive action measures, managed to help over 200 Roma students to enroll into the University of Novi Sad. We helped them enroll into university and we also helped them get the accommodation in student’s residen-ce halls. Since this national community has an extremely diffi cult social status, an additional support is needed in

order to motivate the talented children who want to and are ready to study, to complete their studies and get their degrees.

We have also initiated several programs for employ-ment of the young people who graduated from their col-leges. Some of them are able to get internships and even jobs at the Provincial Government and the institutions in which it is of great importance to know the language, customs, traditions and the culture of Roma people. The others have had an opportunity to take part in different programs for employment, through which we fi nanced the opening of 50 businesses whose owners are the Roma. And that is not all.

Together with some foreign investors, we want to increase the number of the Roma who will be able to get decent jobs and to lead normal and better lives in the 21st century. In partnership with German investors and the Šid municipality, we managed to reach an agreement re-lated to the future employment of the people belonging to Roma population, where the German investors would be the employers. We want to solve the Roma issues and we think this is the right way to do this. On one hand, we want to solve the issues through education. Three hundred and fi fty fi ve stipends have been given to Roma students who attend high schools. These students also have their own personal mentors who help them with their education and who prepare them to get ready to enroll into universities. There are over 200 students that make us extremely pro-ud and that will set the foundations for the Roma national community in Vojvodina and who will do their best in order to make things better for their entire.

The model used for solving the Roma issues and problems is seen as extremely good and effi cient on the international level. Have we managed to come up to the expectations that have been invested on us by the Provin-cial Government? Are you satisfi ed with the results?

We have received a lot of praise for this specifi c mo-del from European institutions, United Nations and large

Interview: the President of the Government of AP Vojvodina, dr Bojan Pajtić

HOPE LIES IN YOUNG AND EDUCATED PEOPLE


number of other relevant institutions. I am sure we are doing a better job at solving this problem than some other European countries. We are determined to integrate the Roma community into society and to help this communi-ty improve its social status but we also want to make sure that it will not lose its own identity at the same time. We want to achieve the goal of making the Roma not social but exclusively ethnical category. Young and educated people are working at the Roma Inclusion Offi ce, that we founded, and in the majority of municipalities all around Vojvodina we have appointed Roma coordinators who are also educated. A Roma woman, Slavica Denić, who became the State Secretary in the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights has taken part in a similar process. There are more and more young people today who get jobs in State institutions. Today, we have judges, who are Roma, people who are employed in the Provincial admi-nistration who are Roma, journalists who are Roma, etc. The similar situation is happening in a large number of different fi elds and it seems that the creative potential and the energy of the young members of the Roma national community are fi nally awakening.

Apart from that, through the Fund for the Capital In-vestments we managed to provide 300.000.000,00 dinars for the improvement of the situation of the Roma. This money has been spent for asphalting the roads in Roma settlements and on reconstruction and the purchase of houses. We have directed this money to municipalities Sivac, Opovo and many others. It is clear that without the improvement of the lives of the members of the Roma national community we cannot become a civilized socie-ty. The people like us who work in the public sector have an obligation to make sure that all citizens have the same rights and have the same possibilities to work and ad-vance in their carriers. Members of one national minority

cannot be judged and discriminated against just because they belong to different national minority. In this sense, there is a noticeable difference in the fi eld of education and employment between the Roma and the members of some other nationalities who live in this region. I refuse to accept this fact and so do my coworkers, and we are defi nitely going to insist on including a large number of young Roma in the education system and to encourage them to become active members in their communities and not forget who they are after they graduate. I have poin-ted out in several different occasions that they have to do their best in order to support the rest of their community and to explain to the people who have not been that lucky or talented to go to college how important being educated really is and how they can improve their social, fi nancial and health status. According to some statistics, only one out of 100 Roma reaches the age of 60 which a devasta-ting information. We have to try and do our best in order to change this statistics and to improve the position of the Roma. Apart from the programs mentioned above, we have also developed some other programs that focus on providing the short-term solutions. Through some public programs we have managed to provide jobs for hundreds of Roma who are now able to provide for their families.

How important it is to solve the problems that exist on the local and higher levels with the help of the vario-us institutions which will be there to control, supervise and make sure that the solutions to those problems are better and more effi cient? What is being achieved by acti-vely following the educational process of Roma children? What has been done for the education of Roma children and what are the results?

We give stipends to Roma high school students,to the students who are enrolled into some vocational scho-

ols and to all of those who are at-tending specifi c school and who are planning to go to college after they graduate. It is necessary to oversee that entire process and to make sure that the process is being stimulated by someone and not just left on its own, because if that happens, it would be unsuc-cessful.

How is that (the success of the project) achieved?

It is achieved by a body of mentors that we hired, who are paid to look after those students, to help them during their process of education, to follow their de-velopment and to direct them towards specifi c direction. The results of this program are extra-


ordinary and we have a large number of successful stu-dents. Since we started with these measures in 2007, I expect that this year and the next year we are going to have a signifi cant number of young people who graduate. They will fi ght for their own place in the society, they will be able to get decent jobs and they will be able to move the entire Roma community from the standstill, even tho-ugh some very important steps have already been made. What is important to emphasize is that the education does not start in high school, it actually starts long before that. That is why we opened a special department at the Voca-tional College in Vršac where the students are educated to become the teachers in Roma language. We want to di-rect the young people since their early age to realize that it is only through education and hard they can achieve something in their lives. It is not possible to do the same thing with the old people, but we need to do that with the children and the young people. Just because of that we have started to focus on the youngest, who are in kinder-gartens, and we continued with those who are attending colleges. This kind of program cannot fail to give results and to push the entire community forward. If you look at the entire Roma question in a more analytical manner, the social problem of the Roma is more of an educational problem and it can only be solved through the process of education.

The University of Novi Sad is your partner in creating Roma intellectual elite. In what ways has the University helped the realization of the Roma inclusion program?

This is called the politics of the equal opportunities and I am extremely satisfi ed to see that the University of Novi Sad, which has been founded by the Province, is do-ing its best to enable the realization of this program. I am also satisfi ed with the work of the previous dean Radmila Marinković Nedučin, and the current dean Miroslav Ve-sković since the University is one of the most important instrument in the realization of this program. Through free master’s and doctoral studies we want to complete the process of creation of Roma intellectual elite becau-se if we have more Roma people working as professors at universities, high schools and elementary schools, the other Roma people will decide to educate their children in institutions like these. A problem related to education

is that the Roma people tend to feel some kind of a resi-stance towards the educational institutions, and they do not trust these institutions at all. A large number of chil-dren have been growing up outside of that system. The presence of the Roma people inside that system, at those institutions will defi nitely improve the entire situation. The mentoring system has been extremely successful and I think that it has been situated at the right place, becau-se the young people in high schools need extra support in order to continue their education and start working as professors, managers, etc.

By adopting the strategy of the politics of possible equal opportunities, You and your team have infl uenced the appointment of the Roma to working positions in both legislative and executive governments on various levels. In that way you send out the message that all national minorities are equal. The problem has to be solved with dialogue, hard facts and valid arguments.

That is right. We founded the Roma Inclusion Offi ce because I noticed our need for a specifi c institution which will look into the problems of the Roma community. The problems of this specifi c community are greater than the problems of some other communities. The people who work at the Roma Inclusion Offi ce are members of the Roma community, they fi nished their colleges through the affi rmative action program, they are energetic, full of interesting ideas and they most certainly are the ones who know the best how to identify problems related to their community.

For the fi rst time in the world has the member of the Roma national community been elected as the represen-tative in the legislative government. What are we trying to promote with this?

Mr Duško Jovanović is the deputy and the president of the Roma national council at the Provincial parliament. His presence there is needed and necessary when certa-in laws, decisions and institutions are being created. In this way, the Roma are directly infl uencing the decisions that are being made and the changing of those decisions, so that the institutions will be, from the very beginning, more focused on the needs of the Roma community.

In Vojvodina, a large number of different national minorities are living toghether in harmony. The Provin-cial government has even established the Provincial Co-uncil for the International Relations. What is the main function of this Council?

That is right. We have established this institution, the Council of the National Communities which is supposed to be some kind of a control mechanism. This means that, during the process of making of the decisions which are important for the identity of the national minorities, a cer-tain document can be signed so that it corresponds to the needs of that community. A Council like this one does not exist anywhere in Europe.


With our politics which focuses on establishing good international relations, we manage to attract various in-vestments and investors.

I had an opportunity to talk to the European Com-missioner for Employment, Social Politics and Inclusion, which focuses on employment and other problems of some marginalized communities. During that occasion, I talked about the things we had done for the Roma in our country and he was fascinated. I asked for his help in getting fi nancial support for these projects. It is certain that we will insist, through the Roma Inclusion Offi ce and the Provincial Government, on getting one part of the European donations and directing it towards the pro-grams and projects that are going to be applicable not just in Vojvodina, but in some other regions, too.

We also need to mention that due to the diffi cult fi nancial situation we are currently facing a lot of pro-blems. We know that there are not enough resources in the budget and that there are the need to focus on some other fi elds and aspects. We attract the investments with our politics of the good international relations, the po-litics of quality and effi ciency and with the people who understand Europe, European models and standards. To what extent has Vojvodina showed that it possesses the right people, understanding for certain issues and situ-ations and clearly defi ned goals?

Apart from the 50 business that have been establi-shed by the Roma, we had the chance to talk to some German investors, who want to invest their money in Vo-jvodina. They have mentioned huge amounts of money, but the thing that is important is that, through the Roma Inclusion Offi ce and our Roma representatives they fo-und out about Vojvodina and decided to invest in this area and also to hire the Roma.

Does this guarantee that those resources are going to reach the Roma who live in rural areas and that they are going to be benefi cial for them as well? Can the posi-tion of the Roma be changed over night?

This is certainly a good indicator that things are defi -nitely moving forward. I am a huge optimist when it comes to Roma national community, not just related to the foreign investments but also related to the programs that we are planning to carry out. What I want to emphasize is that a diffi cult situation like this one is the result of the problems that exist for centuries. It is not possible to make drastic

changes in just a couple of years, but I am certain that we will manage to change a lot of things in the following years. We also want to achieve in making Roma national community, in 10 or 15 years time, a community which will be closely resemble some other communities in both social and educational aspects.

You also work as the professor at the University of Novi Sad. What message would you like to send to all of those parents who are thinking about including their chil-dren into the educational process on all levels?

I would like to tell them that it is not possible to pro-sper and make any kind of progress without education and that it is not possible to have a better future without education. The thing I would also like to add is that we take care of their children who are going to have a more perspective future after they fi nish their education. The children have to go to school, they have to get a proper education and take advantage of all the possibilities that are offered to them.

You have studied law. Do you still study and try to improve something about yourself?

You always have to try to improve something about yourself and the people who do not even try to do this cannot make any progress. You can only make progress or make your situation even worse, there is no such thing as stagnation. Only those people who have no ambitions what so ever are making their lives even worse than they really are, and I think this should be the main idea of this interview.

Petar Miler


The Ministry for Human and Minority Rights of the Republic of Serbia has appointed the member of the Roma national minority, Slavica Denić, as the State Secretary

In coordinance with the aims and goals of the De-cade of Roma Inclusion and the priorities related to the inclusion the members of the Roma national minority into the work of the state institutions, The Government of the Republic of Serbia has passed a decision about the appointing mr Slavica Denić into the place of the Secre-tary of State within the Ministry for Human and Minori-ty Rights. By appointing Slavica Denić, a huge step was made in the implementation of the Decade of Roma and the national action plans, which the government of the Republic of Serbia has passed in April 2009.

Slavica Denić was born on August 24th 1977 in Niš. She graduated at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad and got the title of the professor of Philosophy. She re-ceived her M.A. at the University of Novi Sad in 2010 at the Center for the Multidisciplinary Studies (ACIMSI) with the paper “Management in Education and the Inte-gration of Roma Children”. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad at the department Industrial Engineering and Management. Since 2005, she has worked as a journalist at the RTV Vojvodina. She is also the member of the executive bo-

ard of the Roma Inclusion Offi ce in AP Vojvodina and she has also participated in the projects funded by the government of AP Vojvodina related to the education of Roma children.

The representatives of the Roma national community have, so far, pointed out that the biggest problem related to their community is the inability to reach the state reso-urces, which is the consequence of the weak cooperation with the state institutions. NGOs from all around Serbia have talked with Svetozar Čiplić, the minister for the Hu-man and Minority Rights of the Republic of Serbia about this problem and pointed out the fact that the poverty of the Roma population had never been bigger. During this meeting, it was obvious that the state institutions were completely uninterested in solving the problems of the Roma population. The Roma Civilian Sector especially pointed out the inability to realize the action plans on the local level as well as the budgeting for some programs that belong to the Decade of the Roma Inclusion. As a consequence, a large number of Roma families, especial-ly from the southern part of Serbia, are leaving the coun-try and going to some other European countries, in search of better life and material status.

Minister Čiplić has invited the Roma organizations to send their projects through the newly appointed se-cretary Slavica Denić, and the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights will check the fi rst results of this type of communication in April. He also said that experiences and the results from Vojvodina where the European poli-tics towards the Roma has been fully realized should be present throughout the entire territory of Serbia.

The main task of Slavica Denić is going to be the work of the National Council of the Roma National Mi-nority in Serbia and the implementation of the Decade of the Roma Inclusion. She also emphasized that the young and educated people represent the necessary support and strength and that they should use the opportunity to pu-blicly show that they are the people that can be counted on. The intellectual elite should become the important factor during the cooperation with the international in-stitutions within the process of the implementation of the Decade of the Roma. “In order to carry out both the De-cade of the Roma and the inclusion much faster and more effi ciently, we need to have team work and transparency” said Slavica Denić and added that “within these proces-ses, the new, responsible politics of the Roma community should be promoted”. She has also emphasized the fact that the Roma are one of the biggest but also one of the most threatened communities in Europe and that the po-verty and the high percentage of unemployment, discri-mination, stereotypes, the low percentage of education

THE FIRST ROMA WOMAN TO BECOME THE SECRETARY OF STATE


and bad health care are making their position even more dramatic.

According to some surveys on the local level, 78% of the Roma population is illiterate, only 17.2% fi nishes ele-mentary school, 4.6% fi nishes high school and only 0.2% receives a college degree. The data also show that around 24% of the Roma children do not have the access to ba-sic food (like milk and dairy products) and 40% of them do not eat fruits and vegetables. More than 600 Roma settlements are lacking the elementary living conditions. These are just some of the factors due to which just one out of 100 Roma manages to live up to 60 years.

As her main task, being the Secretary of the State in the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Slavica De-nić points out the work related to education, especially in carrying out the Affi rmative Action Measures in a more quality way. Then, there is the giving of stipends to the best Roma students and paying for the master’s and do-ctoral studies, at both private and state colleges in order to include more Roma students into the institutions of the Republic of Serbia. “It is necessary to form a team for writing the projects and programs with which we will be able to apply for some international funds and to initiate the donor`s conference on which the best projects rela-ted to the self-employment and the development of the small and medium-sized businesses will be presented in the presence of the Board of the International Decade, the embassies, MMF, World Bank, the employers and the in-vestors”, said the State Secretary and added that “the so-lving of the problems of the unhygienic Roma settlements is necessary and it requires, apart from the funding, the cooperation between various institutions, the local com-munity and the inhabitants of these settlements”. Slavica Denić also emphasized the importance of removing all the ways of forcing and the acceptance of the local people to accept living with the Roma.

According to Slavica Denić, the focus should also be put on the process of the readmission, the displaced and exiled people to whom we should be able to offer the models for the solution of the housing and socio-eco-nomic issues, together with the international community and the countries in which they are currently living. She also pointed out that the legally invisible people represent a big problem that needs to be solved quickly and more effi ciently by making a network between the local self-government, Roma coordinators, police, representatives of the European Union and the United Nations.

These are the biggest problems that the Roma com-munity is currently facing and in order to solve them the-re needs to be a coordination, cooperation and dialogue

between the institutions of the Re-public of Serbia, the representatives of the Roma and the international community whose participation is of great importance. “However, appointing a Roma woman on the position of the State Secretary is defi nitely a sign of good will and it is most certainly a good start”, the State Secretary has pointed out and sent a message to the young people that the education is the only way out of the vicious circle of poverty and misery.

Petar Miler

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He had spent days and nights reading and studying, sacrifi cing his health, in order to improve the lives of the Roma people. The Roma national society inherited a pri-celess fortune. The life and work of this man was dedica-ted solely to it.

Trifun Dimić was born on 29.02.1956 in Gospođinci but he lived and worked in Novi Sad as an advisor for Kulturno-prosvetne zajednice Vojvodine.

He dedicated his entire life to the Roma culture and language, and he especially focused on the cultural eman-cipation of Roma. His contribution to the development of the Roma culture and language is immense, he was a well-known romologist. The numerous works he wrote during his lifetime belong to different genres and deal with various topics. He most certainly paved the way for the generations of Roma whose time is yet to come.

Just like Vuk Karadžić did with the Serbian oral tra-dition, Trifun Dimić did the same with the Roma oral tra-dition. He collected Roma oral tradition and published a collection of poems called Dolazeći sa vašara in 1979 and a book entitled Kletve, zakletve i blagoslovi Roma in 1984. In 1986, he published two collections of poetry - Narodna romska poezija and Vreme samoće. His sketch Sveta Petka od Epivata do Jaša was published in 1996. Some of his poems were also included in the anthology of love poems Dodir snova (which was edited by Pavel Gajtancu) and the world anthology of love poems (which was edited by Pero Zubac).

Trifun Dimić set the foundations for and started de-veloping language, literature and the culture of the Roma. Apart from the Roma oral tradition, he was also intere-sted in religion. In 1987 he published the translation of the Song of Songs from the Old Testament and in 1991 he published the translation of the New Testament.

One of his most important translations is defi nitely the translation of Biblijsko petoknjižje which was publi-shed by the SPC Beseda publishing house in 1997. In 1993, after he had received blessings and the accord of the bishop dr Irinej Bulović, he translated a church-book called Služebnik. Thanks to that particular translation, on April 8th 1993, for the fi rst time in world history Božan-stvena Liturgija Svetog Jovana Zlatoustoga was conduc-ted in the Roma language at the Saborna church in Novi Sad. The last religious service Liturgija Svetog Jovana Zlatoustoga, composed by Zoran Mulić from Novi Sad was conducted in the Roma language on October 12th 2010 and it was performed by the best and the oldest cho-ir in the world, the Academic Chapel Choir Glinka from St.Petersburg (Russia). Dr Bojan Pajtić, the president of the Government of AP Vojvodina was also present at this religious service.

So far, in both Novi Sad and Belgrade, eight reli-gious services were conducted. Dimić also translated the The Qur`an which remained unpublished.

He wrote poetry, prose, philosophical and historical studies. Among his published works is a collection of po-etry Bože, pogubi one drumove published in 1993, the textbook Pismenica published in 1995, Ep o Gilgamešu published in 1996, Tradicijska romska književnost u Vo-jvodini published in 1997, Stopala u prašini published in 1998 and many others.

Trifun Dimić was also a renowned journalist and an initiator of the radio shows on the Roma language on the Novi Sad Radio. He was also the initiator and the editor of the journal Romologija, which fi rst appeared in 1989 and was written in both Serbian and Roma language. A journal called Alav e Rromengo, published by Društvo Vojvodine za jezik i književnost Roma (which he foun-ded and held the position as it president), which appeared in 1994 and which mainly focuses on Roma literature and culture was also initiated by Dimić.

Društvo Vojvodine za jezik i književnost Roma pu-blished the works written by the Roma who lived on the teritory of Yugoslavia, like Gordana Đurić, Predrag Jovi-čić, Jovan Nikolić, Alija Krasnići, Slavomir Stojkov, Jo-van Bogdanović, Zvezdana Lazić, Ranko Jovanović and many others.

Trifun Dimić founded Matica Romska and was its president until his death. While he was working in Ma-

The famous Roma: Trifun Dimić

LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS

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tica Romska, he particularly focused on and paid special attention to the development of the Roma language and culture. He managed to achieve most of the goals he had set, and there are still some other goals that are waiting to be achieved by his colleagues and friends. The fi eld of education was also the fi eld in which Trifun Dimić left his mark. He made a lesson plan for the subject called “The national culture and language of Roma” which was approved by the government of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Education on November 9th 1998, and in 2000 the fi rst “Bukvar” (the fi rst alphabet book the children use when they start elementary school) was published in the Roma language.

Trifun Dimić was also the creator and the editor of the multi-cultural magazine “Most” which was published by Cultural and Educational community of Vojvodina in 1994.

After he had prepared the textbooks, Dimić set out to educate the Roma teachers who would hold lectures on the Roma language. The elective courses on the Roma language started in 1996 on the territory of Vojvodina and 72 elementary school students were included, fi rst in Obrovac and Tovariševo and than in some other towns all over the province. The students who attended these classes were able to learn something more about their native language and they were also better prepared to understand the things they learn at school. These elective courses that Trifun Dimić organized represented the fi rst

institutionalized classes on the Roma language in the Re-public of Serbia.

During his entire life Trifun Dimić was led by his wish to help his own people. He wanted to give his own contribution and to break the vicious circle of poverty and illiteracy. Some of the things he had said, even beca-me proverbs: “We are illiterate because we are poor, and we are poor because we are illiterate”.

Trifun Dimić died on September 13th 2001. He was only 45 years old. One of the streets in Novi Sad is named after him, as well as one school in Montenegro and one street in Gospođinci.

On January 25th 2005, in the Cultural Institute of Vojvodina in Novi Sad a memorial was founded dedi-cated to the life and the works of this remarkable man. On that occasion, a memorial conference called „Trifun Dimić” took place, during which a monograph entitled “Trifun Dimić – A Romologist” was presented.

The international festival of children and youth as well as one library in Novi Sad were also named after him.

During his short life, Trifun Dimić managed to achie-ve more than anyone who studied the Roma language and culture. He dedicated his entire life and his health to his people, working constantly and unselfi shly for their be-nefi t and wellbeing.

Petar Nikolić


Being educated is the only way to achieve success and it is high time young people and their paretns re-alized that. Today, it is a privilege to be a Roma and to live in Serbia. The Roma students, unlike their other col-leagues who do not belong to the Roma national com-munity, have a large number of benefi ts which help them during their years in college. These benefi ts are for them to use and to make the best of them, so why would they just ignore them?

Ms. Biljana Nikolić is a Roma who showed her de-termination to be well-educated and who took advantage of the benefi ts which were offered to her. She is one of the three Roma who received the scholarships given by the Provincial Government based on the agreement between the Government of AP Vojvodina and The University of Novi Sad, according to which four best students of this University were given scholarships. After graduating, she started working at the Administration for Joint Services of the provincial agencies. In this interview, Mrs Nikolić talked about her education, about her successes and about the obstacles that she had encountered along the way.

Can you tell us something about the beginnings of your education?

I went to an elementary school in Silbašu and in the school year 2000/2001 I enrolled into High School of Economics in Bačka Palanka. After high school, I enrol-led into The Faculty of Law, at the Domestic Commerce department where I graduated in 2010.

Why did you choose The Faculty of Law? As a child, I was always called “the lawyer” becau-

se I always talked on behalf of the others and defended them. I enrolled into this particular faculty because it se-emed interesting to me. I have wanted to enroll into this faculty since high school, although my parents were not happy about that because of the possibility of getting a job in the police department. I actually think that they, especially my mother, were extremely happy after I had got the job at the Administration for Joint Services.

What was the thing that motivated you to study and get a good education?

I think it is the only way to succeed in life, not just for the Roma, but for the other people as well. For us, being educated was the only way out of misery and po-verty. It is of great importance to acknowledge the signi-fi cance of schooling and education, and our parents have to be aware of this fact too, so that they will direct their children towards the educational institutions and support their wish to be educated.

Did you have the support of your family? During my entire education, I had an immense sup-

port of my family and I think that this actually helped me a lot. They were always by my side, during the good and the bad times. I also think that sometimes, they had much harder time than I did, because they also felt and expe-rienced each and every of my exams and anxieties like it was their own. My degree is theirs too, and I would use this opportunity to thank them for believing in me.

Have you ever been discriminated against? There were some instances of that, while I was youn-

ger, but I left all those things behind now and I do not want to remember them. I achieved the goals that I set and in that way I proved myself to the people who doub-ted in me and who underestimated me.

Being a student means having to pay a lot money for the tuition fees and some other expenses. How did you manage to solve the fi nancial issues?

I used those measures during my education - I enrol-led into my freshman year in college through those me-asures which included fi nancing of my education from the state budget, the accommodation in residence halls and a monthly stipend. If it had not been for those me-asures, I would not have enrolled into college in the fi rst place nor would I have managed to fi nish it. We were given the best conditions for getting a quality education,

Biljana NikolićEDUCATION – THE ROAD TO SUCCESS


and all we had to do was study, pass our exams in time and enroll into the next year of studies. Actually, we had to justify the trust other people had placed in us. I am really glad that nowadays a large number of students is using these measures, since when I started college, only four of us were using them.

You have achieved a huge success. This certainly in-volves a lot of sacrifi ce.

There was a lot of sacrifi ce and it was the price that I was ready to pay so that I would be able to be proud of everything that I achieved up to now. I knew that my life was going to be hard if I was not educated. I sacrifi ced just six years of my life, which is not that much, since I am going to enjoy the results of my hard work until the end of my life. I forgot all the unpleasant and diffi cult situations. The praise I got from my teachers and my de-gree are the perfect examples that all of my effort was not pointless.

You started working in the Provincial Government immediately after getting your degree. Are you satisfi ed with your job?

I am extremely happy with it and who would not be?!? I am a Roma woman who got the job right after she graduated, some of my colleagues can only dream about this. I have a highly responsible working place and I have proved that the Roma can also work at that places. The times when the color of your skin determined your posi-tion at work have passed. A time of education has begun and the Roma have to take advantage of all the benefi ts that are offered to them during their education. They have to use this chance!

How did your colleagues accept you? I have already known the people that I am working

with right now, since I had a one-month internship at the Government of AP Vojvodina with them. They gave me a great welcome and I did not experience any type of discrimination. I spend the majority of my day working with these people and they have become the essential part of my life. My colleagues are there to point me at the ri-ght direction and I am always ready to learn new things.

What is the importance of the employment of the Roma in state institutions?

It is extremely important to show that simply becau-se we are the members of the Roma national community, are abilities are not disregarded. Only when non-Roma people accept a Roma as a teacher, health care worker, inspector and director, we can say that the Roma inte-gration has been achieved. Every year, more of us have been employed in the state departments, and I am glad because of that. In order to increase the number we need to be educated and to show our degrees as the signs of our worthiness. The presence of the Roma in state depart-ments offers a possibility for the improvement of their position.

To what extent has your education contri-buted to the fulfi llment of your goals?

I have a job that I really love, I am happy and satisfi ed. Everything that I have ever wan-ted and could only dream about, came true. I would not have achieved all of this if I had not been educated. I became independent, I have adopted a healthy system of moral values and my viewpoints are signifi cantly widened.

What are your future plans?I want to enroll into masters studies at The

Faculty of Law and I hope that I will get which will give me more time to start my own family.

Jelena Jovanović

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According to the data given by the National Institute for Statistics in 2002, 3.45% of the population in Serbia is illiterate out of which, 19.65% are the Roma.

Around 35% of Roma children never enroll into ele-mentary school and only one third of those who actually start going to school, eventually fi nish it. Due to their star-ting position and their background, the position of Roma children is worse than the position of an average Serbian child. As if there was a rule, the education of Roma chil-dren ends when they reach the higher level classes in the elementary school. Unschooled and uneducated, they usually have a very hard time during their lives. They are rejected by the people from their environment who do not respect their ways of life and work. The only bridge that connects the Roma with the society is the education. The building of that bridge in Šangaj was started by opening a new library branch of the City Library of Novi Sad.

The fi rst Roma library in the Balkans called “Trifun Dimić” was opened in Šangaj on May 7th by the Mayor of Novi Sad, Igor Pavličić and the director of the Natio-nal Library of Serbia, Sreten Ugričić. The preparations for the realization of this project have started at the be-ginning of 2009. The City Library has actively participa-ted in these preparations, and this was one of the topics of our conversation with the director of the City Library of Novi Sad, Dragan Kojić.

“The City Library is proud to point out that the work during this project has been made easier due to help we received from the partners who obviously share the same values with us like freedom, well being, democracy and dreams” said Dragan Kojić and added that the project was supported by the community center Šangaj and its president Bela Kurin, the Fund for the Open Society from Belgrade, the National Library of Serbia, the Roma Inc-lusion Offi ce, the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Em-ployment and Gender Equality, the Council of Novi Sad, numerous individuals as well as the media who report about the work of this library.

The fi rst Roma library is named after a well-known romologist, writer and the fi ghter for the emancipation and education of the Roma – Trifun Dimić.

The library is situated in Šangaj, a part of Novi Sad which represents a multinational environment, within which the Roma population is the dominant one. The space in which the library is situated has been given by the Šangaj community center. There are around 4000 bo-oks in the library, out if which 350 is on Roma language which makes this library a unique one in the Balkans.

The size of the library is around 100 square meters and it is divided into two separate rooms. The smaller room is fi lled with books and it is also the place where people come to check in and check out the books. The

A unique space in the Balkans

THE ROMA LIBRARY IN ŠANGAJ bigger room offers a great environment for reading, stu-dying and doing all kinds of educational and creating workshops and other cultural events. The director Dra-gan Kojić also points out: “We would like to invite all the people who have not visited the library yet, to do so, be-cause it offers a great environment for both studying and relaxing. It is a very beautiful, spacious library, with a lot

of natural light. It can be used for different occasions; it is very warm with specially designed furniture. It consists of great choice of books and any person can fi nd some-thing interesting – from the books in Roma language to bestsellers in Serbian”.

The director Dragan Kojić also talked about the im-portance of the books and education in general for the inclusion of the Roma: “The main reason for the opening of this library, which is available to anyone and which allows the people to get the knowledge in both written and some other forms and to help the development of both formal and informal education – this is pointed out in the Guidelines for the development of the public libra-ries, a document which is like a Constitution for us, and which was written and passed by IFLA – UNESCO. Due to this fact, the library “Trifun Dimić” will be the place in which all the inhabitants of Šangaj and especially the Roma, will be able to get an informal education. Through the different types of cooperation with the “Veljko Vla-hović” elementary school, the people who are employed in this library work toward the highest goal together with some other partners. The director has also emphasized the importance of the library occupation and the job of the librarian in keeping of humanitarian values and the ideals of the civilization.

The fi rst Roma library is both the place where you can fi nd some books you need and the place where you can meet some interesting people. The adults who come here to rent a book or read the daily newspapers can also

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get some information related to various competitions, at-tend various lectures and participate in the courses orga-nized by the City Library of Novi Sad. The director men-tioned that recently, the Roma women had an opportunity to participate in the free weaving course which was orga-nized as the part of the project called “Prepletaji” and to learn this skill which might even become their profession in the future.

During the fi rst 9 months of its work, the library has achieved great results. The director says that so far the library has 260 members and that that number is constan-tly growing. Most members of the library are the students who are the ones who mostly use this library. “The infor-mal successes that we have achieved are predominantly

related to the education of Roma children who do not go to school regularly but who never forget to come to the library, where we teach them how to write” said the di-rector.

Each day, around 30 students come to the library after their classes, where they get the help they need re-lated to their homework, studying and preparation for te-sts or exams. This month, the students of the 8th grade started attending the classes for the preparation for the entrance exams for high schools.

When we asked the director about the long-term plans and goals of this library, this is what he said: “Our long-term goals include increasing the number of mem-bers, supporting the reading habits among the children and the creation of a real educational center within the library, even though it can be said that the library has al-ready become one according to some of its activities. The fact is that most of the libraries are old, important and perspective cultural institutions which make the lives of many people possible. I sincerely hope that this particular library in Šangaj will last for the years to come.”

If every Roma settlement had had a library similar to this in Šangaj, the number of illiterate and uneducated Roma would have been reduced to the minimum. Šangaj represents one of the privileged places for the Roma pe-ople in the entire Balkans and this specifi c institution is under the protection all of those who want to improve the social, economic and educational position of the Roma national community.

Dragana Dimitrov


The basic meaning of the term “inclusion” (lat. Inc-lusio) is including and containing (which is the opposite of the term “exclusion” which means excluding).

Inclusive education is a contemporary concept of or-ganized teaching and studying. It consists of, accepts and includes the students with the developmental diffi culties, the gifted ones, the members of the national minorities, marginalized and segregated groups, average and all other students. The emphasis of this model of education is the development of the individual potentials, developing of the interest for the education and the achievement of the prospective results. In the formal literature and school practice in most of the developed countries and the co-untries in transition, there is a common attitude towards the promotion of the great importance of the inclusion of the children into regular schooling and normal life, regar-dless of their differences.

The point of the inclusive education is providing support to the differences. So, the inclusive school is the school which views the differences between the students, their interests, skills, abilities and knowledge as the reso-urces for new ideas.

The affi rmation of the concept of the inclusive edu-cation includes scientifi c foundations, studious realization and organization of various institutions, organizations and individuals. In the developed countries, in which the level of the importance for the inclusion of all children into the regular education is rather high, the system for the education and the support which enables the students to become the part of the social life according to their affi nities and abilities is extremely developed. Serbia is defi nitely at the very beginning of this process and we are yet to face with the task of making the assumptions and the conditions for the inclusion of all children into the education system. It is necessary to enable a continual process of the improvement of the inclusive approach. That can be achieved through the realization of the inclu-sive programs and projects, by institutionalization of the inclusive strategy for the education of Roma children and some other marginalized groups. The goal is to introduce a large number of children into the education system (in kindergartens, elementary and high schools).

If we think of the inclusive education as a merely European trend, and we approach it without necessary preparation for its implementation, it is going to become an obligation which we are trying to implement forceful-ly and inhumanly. Apart from the material, organizational and operational assumptions, it is necessary to work on the creation of the inclusive culture and inclusive politics in our own society. This includes the promotion and the creation of the equal opportunities for all of the people whose position is unequal when compared to the one of the other citizens. It is necessary to change your own at-

titudes and take responsibility for your own deeds and shaping of the society in which we are living. Keeping quiet and not reacting is not neutrality but more expres-sing your own attitude. It is important to understand that the trait that evokes the inequality cannot be changed. The people cannot change the fact that they have some kind of invalidity, that they are Roma, that they are of certain age or that they have a certain disease. What can be change is our own attitude towards that.

The Inclusive Classes The inclusive classes model is a model of organized

teaching and studying which includes all the ways and types of individual or group acquisition of knowledge, deepening the experiences, improving of skills, nurturing the habits, development of abilities, valuable orientations and improvement of the processes of humanization and socialization of the students until they reach their own personal maximum.

Taking part in the inclusive classes, as the main com-ponent of the inclusion of the education, means that the te-achers should notice each and every student, accept them, respect his or her being different and stimulate their acti-ve participation in individual or group studying, talking about their experiences and cooperation. The main goal of the enforcement of the inclusive classes is creating the possibility for the more quality studying of all students, in relation to their individual differences.

The quality of the individual classes depends on the partnership between the student and the teacher, the equal interaction between the students, the relationship betwe-en the teacher and the parents, as well as the partnership between the school and the community. Individual clas-ses are only successful if it is planned synchronically, if it is achieved and if it follows the education of chil-dren regardless of their origin and the differences among them. If the potentials and advantages can be seen in the differences and not the weaknesses, if every individual is accepted with his or her own specifi cities, if the commu-nication is not forced, if the obstacles are seen as challen-ges, if all the activities of the students, teachers, parents and representatives of the local community are aimed to-wards the improvement of the quality of studying and the participation in the social life, the inclusive classes are being carried out successfully.

The inclusive education is being carried out in the narrow context – pedagogy and in the wider context – the society (local community, social, health, cultural, huma-nitarian institutions, NGOs, etc.). This means that it is necessary to include the representatives of all target gro-ups into the inclusive process but also to provide them with instruction, examination, planning, realization and

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION


following of the inclusive educational work. The inclusivity of the wider social context (the level

of the inclusional consciousness, the system of the social values, the degree of the social development, equality and social solidarity, democraticalness and the humanity of the relations within the society, etc.) defi nitely determi-nes the quality of the inclusive classes. In this way only will the students be included and accepted, regardless of their psychophysical development, ethical, racial, reli-gious, sexual, linguistical or any other belonging.

The Inclusive Education Model is (un)suitable for the Education

of Roma Children When we talk about the inclusive education model

whose aim is to enable the inclusion of Roma children into the education system, we need to bear in mind some of the characteristics of Roma community, the abilities of children to attend the classes regularly and also the characteristics of the local community.

One of the measures that will certainly have a posi-tive infl uence on the educational status of Roma children is their early inclusion into the kindergarten education (when they are around 4-5 years old). They can spend the whole day in the kindergarten or they can attend some alternative programs aimed at preschool children which can be realized and carried out by some NGOs and Roma organizations. Moreover, an additional effort should be made in order to enable the Roma children aged 6-7 to spend the entire day in kindergartens, in order to become more prepared for starting elementary school.

Some factors (like not knowing the language in which the classes are held, bad and unstimulating condi-tions in their homes, the lack of games and toys, etc.).that have negatively infl uenced the inclusion of Roma chil-dren and their academic success in elementary schools can be made less intense by making their inclusion into kindergarten institutions earlier and by their spending more time in those institutions.

In order to increase their success in the enrollment tests that are taking place before the children start ele-mentary school, it is necessary to organize some addi-tional activities, especially those which include learning Serbian language or the language of the national minori-ties in which the classes are being held in the elementary schools in that particular municipality. If this is not car-ried out, the children could be exposed to some negative experiences related to school and other educational insti-tutions because they have been unprepared before they have been included into the regular educational process which they cannot follow.

Another important measure is the prevention and destruction of the segregation of Roma children in edu-cation, which is usually done by enrolling these children

into separate classes just for Roma children or enrolling them into special classes in elementary schools which are intended for mentally disabled children. Children who are included into regular classes need help in studying. The critical periods are the very beginning of schooling, the transition between 4th and 5th grade and the very end of elementary school. One of the solutions for providing the support for the children who have bad results in school is to hold the additional classes more intensively and regu-larly. An extremely important way of supporting Roma children is helping them enroll into high schools.

It is also necessary to work on the motivation of the parents to send their children to schools as well, to point out the signifi cance of education by including the suc-cessful educated Roma, the means of information, NGOs and local self-governments. Another example of a good action would be the municipality which would pay the fees for the Roma children to go into kindergartens.

The work on the awareness of the non-Roma popu-lation and on pointing out the problems and the needs of the Roma are also extremely important. This specifi c process has to be carried out in the entire population and in the public sphere too, since this sphere has a very im-portant role as far as the education of the Roma is con-cerned (kindergarten teachers, people who work at the education institutions, representatives of the local self-governments, etc.).

The results of this kind of education would be the equal access to quality and free education and equal op-portunities within the education system, in which every child is respected and accepted, regardless of its sexual, national, religious and socio-economic origin and back-ground. However, it is important to point out that the in-clusion is a process that needs to include the institutional dimension.

Therefore, the inclusion is a continuous process that promotes intercultural respect and understanding, equ-ality of all social groups and develops the competence among students which will help them function better in a society fi lled with differences and diversity.

In that sense, Serbia, as one of the participants in the Roma Decade, is obliged to help Roma children to come across various fi nancial, economical and cultural obstacles, and to enable them the equal access to educa-tion. The support of this kind is related to human rights and its realization is not just the question of humanism and will, but also the state`s obligation to enable the inc-lusion of Roma into the education system in accordance with their needs.

Petar Miler


Žabalj municipality is one of the 45 municipalities in the AP Vojvodina in which a large number of different national minorities currently reside. A lot of attention is dedicated to the solving of issues of the Roma who live there. In this interview, we talked with the president of Žabalj municipality, Branko Stajić, about this munici-pality and the status the members of the Roma national community have in it.

Can you tell us something about your municipality? Žabalj municipality is situated at the center of AP

Vojvodina. It consists of four settlements: Žabalj, Ču-rug, Đurđevo and Gospođinci and its covers the area of around 400 km2 . According to the 2002 census, there were 27.513 people living in this municipality. All settle-ments are connected with asphalt roads which makes the transport and communication between these settlements easier. Several different rivers run through the territory of this municipality - Tisa, Stara Tisa and Jegrička as well as the channel Dunav-Tisa-Dunav. The River Tisa, which runs through several European countries, is suitable for domestic and international water traffi c and it is also su-itable for the building of a marina. The river Stara Tisa became a nature park in 2007 under the name „Stara Tisa kod Bisernog ostrva”. The fi shing club Stara Tisa controls and uses this nature park. The most important branches of industry in this municipality are agriculture, alimentary industry and wholesale and retail trade.

What is the position of Roma people in Žabalj mu-nicipality?

According to the 2002 census, there are 27.513 pe-ople living in this municipality and out of that number around 1008 inhabitants are Roma – 768 of them are do-miciled, 52 of them are displaced and 188 of them are refugees. There are around 150 Roma living in two set-tlements in Čurug called Ledine i Boronj naselje, as well as in Plehano selo in Žabalj. Around 100 Roma live in the Roma neighborhood in Đurđevo, whereas in Cigan-ska mala in Gospođinci there are around 50 of them. Ho-wever, according to the 2010 census, the number of the Roma people in this municipality is 1500 which means that their number is slowly increasing.

An interview with Branko Stajić, the president of Žabalj municipality

ŽABALJ MUNICIPALITY


The size of the municipality (in square kilometers)

400km²

The number of settlements 4

The number of inhabitants 27.513

The number of Roma people living in the

municipality

The number of domiciled Roma: 768 (2002 census)The number of displaced people: 52

The number of refugees: 188

The informal Roma settlements with the

number of inhabitants

Boronj naselje (in Čurug) around 150, Ledine (in Čurug) around 150Plehano selo (in Žabalj) around 150

Ciganski kraj (in Đurđevo) around 100Ciganska mala (in Gospođinci) around 50

23The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodinan AP Vojvodina

What has been done so far in the fi elds like educa-tion, employment, housing and health care in order to im-prove the position of Roma people in this municipality?

There are 447 Roma children included in the edu-cational system – 374 of them are attending elementary school, whereas 73 of them are going to high school. The fact is that only after 2002, 245 Roma children have been included into the education system and that until that year there have been no Roma students from Žabalj municipa-lity who have been enrolled into universities. According to the data collected by the NGO Romkinje u dekadi, there are 230 Roma people aged from 35 to 65 who are illiterate whereas there are no illiterate people from the Serbian population who are of the same age. For this re-ason, a lot of attention is being paid to the education of Roma people.

Together with foreign donors and the Government of AP Vojvodina, Žabalj municipality has carried out several projects related to the improvement of the housing condi-tions of Roma people. In several houses in the Roma ne-ighborhood in Čurug the bathrooms are being built and in

Čurug i Đurđevo the streets were recon-structed and asphalted. The reconstruc-tion of the Roma neighborhood in Čurug was funded by the Provincial Secretariat for Environment Protection. The projects related to the employment of Roma pe-ople have been carried out with the help of the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality.

Are there any budget resources that are planned for the implementation of the action plans which are related to the so-lving of the issues that the Roma people are currently facing?

There are some planned budget reso-urces that are aimed at the implementa-tion of the action plans which are related to the problems the Roma people are cur-rently facing. The Offi ce for Roma Inclu-sion gave 1.500.000 dinars for that parti-cular cause. The Center for Social Work provided the allowances for the social welfare which were around 3.041.193 di-nars. As far as the education is concerned, 11.843.170 dinars was spent for the mon-thly stipends, meals and transport expen-ses for about 120 Roma children. Part of this money is spent on kindergarten servi-ces for 50 Roma children.

Who are your partners in this pro-cess?

Our partners are Roma Inclusion Of-fi ce of Žabalj municipality, The Center for Social Work, Roma Inclusion Offi ce of the AP Vojvodina, elementary schools, high schools, kindergarten institution Detinjstvo from Žabalj, Community Health Center in Žabalj, and Roma NGOs. The Roma NGOs do not have steady so-urces of income, but we as the municipality manage to fund some of their projects through our budget. Roma Inclusion Offi ce of Žabalj municipality gave 3.200.000 dinars to six local Roma NGOs.

What are the future plans of this municipality?The plans of Žabalj municipality are coordinated

with the strategic goals for development of Žabalj mu-nicipality and the Strategy for Social Welfare. Thanks to the successful coopereation between several institutions and organizations a signifi cant progress has been made in the fi elds such as education, housing and the employment of the Roma people. I really hope that this partnership is going to last and that we will be able to make the lives of Roma people easier and much better than they have been until now.

Jelena Jovanović


On February 14th 2009, the Roma Inclusion Offi ce, together with the Matica Romska and the Union of the NGOs Dekada Roma, supported by the Provincial Se-cretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Communities, organized the Donors` Conference in or-der to improve the position of Roma people in Vojvodina. The representatives of the embassies of Hungary, Italy and Germany as well as the representatives of USAID, UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Open Society Fund, the Citizens` Initiative, the Government of the Re-public of Serbia, the Government of AP Vojvodina, local self-governments were all present at that conference and the signifi cant contact was made with the German busi-nessmen.

The moderator of this conference, Mr.Duško Jova-nović, the director of the Roma Inclusion Offi ce, talked about the work of this offi ce and the activities that were organized and carried out and that were related to the fi elds of education, housing, employment, health care and the integration of the Roma into the state institutions. During this conference, a conclusion was made that a lot had been done in Vojvodina for the improvement of the position of the Roma national community and that those activities should not stop so that the educational, mate-rial and social status of the Roma would become even higher.

The German business men who were also present at this conference invested several million Euros for this cause, which just shows how important the cooperation between different provincial, state and international insti-tutions and organizations really is.

After the negotiations with the German business men and the compilation of the necessary documentation, the fi rst signifi cant step was made in Šid. The Protocol about the partnership between the local self-government and the representatives of the German companies about the investment worth 135 million Euros was signed. The

president of Šid municipality, Nataša Cvjetković, signed this Protocol together with the two German investors, in which the rights and the duties of the sides that had si-gned it were defi ned.

This was the fi rst step towards the realization of the very important investment of the German business men in Šid municipality and Srem in general. The negotiac-tions related to this investment lasted for 18 months. This investment, worth around 135 million Euros, includes the construction of two factories – one for tire recycling and the other for the production of biogas. These two facto-ries will be built on a 47 ha piece of land which is situated in the industrial part of the town. The construction of the factories will begin in March, and around 170 workers will work in them. The Roma will have the priority as far as the employment in these factories is concerned. This investment is going to be realized in Višnjićevo, a com-munity center in Šid municipality.

The Provincial Secretary for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality, Mr. Miroslav Vasin and the direc-tor of the Roma Inclusion Offi ce, Mr. Duško Jovanović, were present during these negotations with the German investors and provided a great support to Šid municipa-lity. A very important contribution for the realization of this investment was also made by the coordinator for the Srem administrative district, Dušan Jovanović, who was the leader of these negotiations and who actively parti-cipated in the long preparation for the realiyation of this cooperation.

Šid municipality showed its readiness to attract the foreign investors who will accelerate the economic growth not just of this municipality, but of entire region as well. The main goal of the projects like this one is to reduce the number of the unemployed Roma people so that they could be able to earn enough money from their work in order to survive and to decrease the number of the socially disadvantaged Roma families.

Ninoslav Jovanović

ŠID MUNICIPALITY


If we take into account the fact that the members of the Roma national community are six times poorer than the poorest and that they have to face numerous problems on the daily bases, so far not much has been done in order to improve the position of the Roma and their integration into the society. According to the survey carried out by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia, only one in 100 Roma manages to live for more than 60 years.

The Decade of Roma Inclusion (2005 – 2015) is an international initiative, fi rst of its kind, in which the go-vernments of the central and south-eastern European sta-tes (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania) promi-sed that they will do their best in order to improve the so-cio-economical status and the inclusion of the Roma. This initiative includes the governments, intergovernmental bodies and the NGOs. The Decade of Roma Inclusion

focuses on the following fi elds: education, health care, housing and employment. All countries that participate in the Decade have adopted the national action plans in which the goals and the indicators for all the preferential fi elds have been determined.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia has, in 2005, accepted the Action Plan for the Improvement of Roma Health which consists of: the research of the cur-rent situation related to Roma health, making sure that the laws related to the health care are being enforced and the improvement of the health care services and the environ-ment in which the Roma people live. The Strategy for the Improvement of Roma Position in the Republic of Serbia

has been adopted in 2009 and it focuses on the following fi elds: health care, education, housing, employment, di-splaced people, the return of some people based on the agreement of the readmission, personal documents, so-cial security and social protection, the position of women, culture, discrimination and other related issues. This stra-tegy also consists of The Action Plan (2005-2015) for the Improvement of Roma Health with predefi ned goals.

“Following the information related to the Decade of Roma (2005-2015), the Ministry of Health offered us the opportunity to improve the Roma health in our mu-nicipality, through the public action for the improvement of Roma health, and to raise their awareness about this issue” says Miroslav Meržan, the president of the orga-nization The Citizens Association RROMA-ROTA. This organization, together with the Institute of Public Health in Kikinda , applied for and carried out the projects in

the period between 2006 and 2009. “The entire cooperation between the team employed at the Institute of Public Health and the members of our orga-nization functioned great” said Mr.Meržan, and added that “an enormous effort has been de-voted to the realization of these projects according to the pre-existing plans”. He also po-inted out that there have been some problems in approaching the Roma in their settlements and that these problems have been overcome thanks to the effort of RROMA-ROTA as-sociation.

In 2006/2007 the Institu-te of Public Health in Kikinda

carried out the project called “ The Improvement of Roma health on the territory of Kikinda municipality”, its main goal being the improvement of health condition of the Roma. The same project was also realized in 2007/2008 in all the villages that belong to Kikinda municipality. The main goal was certainly to strengthen the health potential of the Roma population while there have been some other goals as well that have been more specifi c:

• To start monitoring the differences in the health status between the Roma and the rest of the popu-lation

• To provide the basic health conditions which are important for the improvement of the quality of

Roma Health

ROMA HEALTH – ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES


life; sanitary-hygienic measures • To raise the awareness of the Roma related to the

improvement of the life-style and work• To provide the adequate health care which is ava-

ilable to the Roma• To infl uence the social-political structures in the

communities so that the Roma would receive the special attention and help

Firstly, a survey was carried out in the Roma set-tlement called Mali Bedem, where the project had been carried out. The survey pointed out the most prominent problems the inhabitants of this settlement were facing and the goals of this project were defi ned according to these problems.

Then, the analysis of the drinking water in this settle-ment had also been carried out as well as the disinfection, disinsectization and deratisation. The medical and dental checkups of the school children also took place as well as the health educational and health promotion work and the two public presentations. The local government provided the resources for the disinfection, disinsectization, derati-sation and the removal of the illegal landfi lls.

During 2006 and 2004 the Institute of Public Health in Kikinda carried out the immunization control of the Roma population in the settlements that belong to the northern-Banat county. The additional immunization was carried out in the settlements where it was determined that the children were not immunized.

The people who were the users of this project were Roma who had been living in the Roma settlements in Kikinda municipality and around 250 of them had been included in this entire project.

The survey carried out in Roma settlement Mali Bedem had showed that the main risk factors are pre-sent among the Roma population in these settlements. According to the survey, 76.3% of the Roma are active smokers, around 50% of them consume one pack of ci-garettes per day and 25% consume two and even more. None of the Roma who participated in the survey was actively involved in any sport and 96.1% were not doing any recreational activities. Only 3.9% had diverse diet while 61.5% only ate once or twice a day. Based on the survey, 47.7% said that they are constantly exposed to stress, 56.6% thought that they did not know much about the health care measures, and 57.9% did not get any in-formation about the ways of health improvement. Only 4% of them use contraception.

Apart from the activities related to this project, du-ring the fi ve years of the work of The Citizens Associa-tion RROMA-ROTa, around 20 gatherings and health workshops for children, women and the elderly were car-ried out. According to Mr.Meržan, each year the budget of the Ministry of health is smaller when compared to the year before, which represents a big problem because the-re are not enough resources to solve all the problems and take care of all the issues that are out there. The actions of the removal of the illegal landfi lls, pumping out the underground waters and many others were carried out in Roma settlements in Kikinda, Bašaid, Mokrin and Rusko Selo and there are also many plans for the future actions. We expect to receive help from the Ministry of Health, the Provincial Government and the local self-government because we defi nitely need to do more in the Roma settle-ments, where the situation is really alarming.

Marija Petković

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The Poverty Reduction Strategy points out that among the Roma population, the greatest problem is de-fi nitely the reproduction of poverty. Education is one of the biggest problems that the Roma are currently facing. Since 2008, the Ministry of Education has included the Roma pedagogical assistants into the education system. They function as mediators between the students and their families and the educational institutions and in that way they make easier the process of the inclusion of Roma children into the educational system.

A pedagogical assistant is an employee, who is elec-ted thorough the public call for employment and hired by an educational institution or school. His role is defi ned through the Law on the Basic System of Education and the Guide related to the program of the instruction for the pedagogical assistant. The work of the pedagogical assi-stant is supervised by the school principal or a member of the school council who is elected by the principal. The pedagogical assistant is hired for one year and he keeps the weekly records of his work and reports to the princi-pal or the member of school council.

The pedagogical assistant works at kindergartens and schools in which there are children who come from poor and deprived environments, marginalized groups where the language in which the classes are held is not spoken, children who have development or emotional problems, disabled children, as well as the children with disruptive behavior which is the result of some tragic (painful) event. Since working with these children seeks a high level of responsibility, one of the main prerequisites for this job is to have at least the high school education. The assistants have to attend a fi ve day introductory course so that they can gain more experience and become more competent in their work. The kindergarten teachers and school te-achers defi ne the ways in which the assistant works with the children who need an additional help during studying and the general language development. The assistants are actively involved in the process of integration of Roma children into their peer group and they also encourage the enrollment of these children into schools.

Subotica – one example of a job well done

Since the beginning of this year, on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Education has hi-red 178 Roma pedagogical assistants, out of which 5 of them are employed in Subotica.

In the last 10 years, the NGOs from Subotica have worked with the educational institutions in order to hire pedagogical assistants. The experiences of this particular city have been included in the creation of the criteria for

the choice and the role of the pedagogical assistant in the education system. There are fi ve pedagogical assistants currently hired in Subotica, through the Ministry of Edu-cation program. At this moment, 100 Roma children are going to kindergarten and 370 Roma children are going to elementary schools. The kindergarten institution “Naša radost” has two assistants, while in the elementary scho-ols “Matko Vuković“ “Sečenji Ištvan“ and “Đuro Salaj“ only one assistant is hired.

The experiences related to the work of the pedago-gical assistants are different. Nada Dimović worked as a pedagogical assistant in “Đuro Salaj“elementary scho-

ol, from 2003 to 2005. During this period, around 100 Roma children attended to this school. After that, she was transfered to „Matko Vuković“ elementary school, where she is currenty working and in which there are 140 Roma children. According to her,the younger students are her priority and she even works in the daycare. The quality of her work is her trademark, she is making sure that she anwers the needs of each and every child. She is also in contact with teachers and the school principal, as well as with parents whom she informs about the current issues and invites them to attend parents` meetings. The big-

PEDAGOGICAL ASSISTANTS IN SERBIA

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gest problem for the students is the inability to communicate in Serbian, which is the langu-age spoken and used during the classes in schools. This directly affects the students and makes their knowledge acquision even harder.

One of the consenquences of the pshychosocial immatur-ness of children is the loss of concentration during the clas-ses. The lack of school supplies is also a big problem. The pe-dagogical assistant talks to the parents who have a low level of responsibility towards their chidlren`s education and tries to solve those problems. De-spite these problems, a large number of children manages to learn things contained in the syllabus and to get into the next grade. „The majority of the parents has relized the importance of the eduational institutions. A mutual trust has been achieved between the pedagogical assistant, the parents and the schools and that is the main prerequisitive for the advancement in the educational inclusion of the Roma“ said Nada Dimović.

Kertis Kajtaz is the pedagogical assistant in “Sečenji Ištvan“elementary school in Subotica. Currenty, he is at the last year of his studies at the Teacher Training College in Subotica. In addition, he is an active member of the NGO Educational center Roma where he works with the younger members of Roma population, which have had a huge impact on his application for the working place of the pedagogical assistant. The school principal, Magda Fehervari pointed out the need for the pedagogical assi-stant. There are 116 Roma children going to this school. The principal said that Kertis works with the children who are in the fi rst grade and come from three different classes. Half of the students do not speak Serbian very well while some of them do not even understand this lan-guage. His main task is to help the students overcome the language barriers by translating the lessons from Serbian to Roma language. In this way he actually helps them approach the matter they cover during their classes more easily. The results that he achieved for the short time of his work are very important: most of the students lear-ned everything that was in the syllabus for the fi rst grade, the integration of Roma and non-Roma children has been achieved, the non-Roma students gladly sit next toRoma students during their classes, the students regularly go to classes, etc.

The results achieved by the pedagogical assistants jusfi ty their existance. They are the keepers of the chil-dren`s rights and interests and they are facing a large number of chalenges and tasks. Their mission is of great importance in the actualization of the vision of the Roma national community which focuses on the higher level of education and decrease of poverty.

Ružica Nikolić

29The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina 2929Thhe RoRoRomamama DD Dececece adadaddeee e iniiiniin AAA AP PPPP VoVoVojvjvvododdo inninaaa

PROVIDING THE ADVANCED SERVICES ON THE LOCAL LEVELThe Government of the Republic of Serbia, in coope-

ration with the World Bank and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is currently in the process of realization of the project called “Pro-viding the advanced services on the local level” – DILS. According to the offi cial records of Ministry of Educa-tion, the project is going to be carried out from the begin-ning of 2009 until the end 2012 and the total loan amount given by the World Bank is 2.5 million Euros. This project is supported and carried out by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

The goal of this project is the strengthening of the capacities of the departments of health, education and social welfare on the local level, which will focus of pro-viding services to the people who belong to the margina-lized groups and who live in decentralized surroundings.

The most important activities of this project are:• To identify the vulnerable groups of people and es-

timate their needs• To educate the health care workers and assistants

about the needs of the elderly, children, young pe-ople, disabled people and the Roma

• To train the people from local self-governments about their duties in the fi elds of health care and the needs of the vulnerable groups of people

The Inclusion of Roma in the Education System

After the signing of the agreement between the DILS/REF project of the Ministry of Education and 28 municipal mentors, since December 2010, municipal mentors have been appointed in 58 poorest municipalities in Serbia. Their main task is to support the development of the inclusion of Roma in the education system. The aim of this project “The Inclusion of Roma in the Educa-tion System” is to provide the quality education to Roma children. It includes working towards the establishing of the conditions for the equal education for all students, prevention of the prematurely dropping out of school, so-lving the problems related to discrimination, introducing Roma language into the education system and establi-shing the conditions for the optimal integration of Roma children into the system of education.

“This project represents the program of support for the undeveloped municipalities, for the successful deve-lopment of the projects and actions aimed at the inclu-sion of Roma children into the education system. This program of support will be aimed at those municipalities in Serbia, in which the education of Roma children is the biggest and the most prominent problem” said Tinde Ko-vač Cerović, state secretary in the Ministry of Education and also added that “apart from the mentors, the most

important aspect of support to these municipalities are grants, or funding which will be given to the best project proposals. Those projects need to facilitate and enable the successful education of the Roma children which is, according to the state law, available to all children.

The purpose of these grants is to help the local sel-f-governments and institutions which focus on health, education and social welfare to strengthen their own ca-pacities. The grants will also help them get the necessary equipment and adjust the infrastructure so that they wo-uld be able to respond to the specifi c needs of their users and be qualifi ed enough to provide better services in the future.

The municipal mentors and the role they have is of great importance, since they will, together with the mu-nicipal teams, work towards the development of the inte-grated enrollment policy and the system for the support for the successful education of the Roma children. The main role of the municipal mentor is to provide the ne-cessary support to the members of the local team, during the process of the development of the project and later, during its implementation.

The plan of the project “The Inclusion of the Roma in the Education System” is to get Roma children closer to the educational institutions. The attention is being paid to the construction of the stimulating environment which will help this process function smoothly. The project is based on the fact that our country has signed almost all important declarations and conventions which point out that ALL children have equal rights to education.

The Program of Support in PećinciPećinci municipality consists of 15 community cen-

ters in which more then 1200 Roma people live. The ma-jority of Roma families do not have housing problems and around 300 Roma children have been integrated into the education system. The Roma society from Pećinci together with the Pećinci municipality, kidergarten insti-tution and schools is constantly working on making chil-dren closer to the local educational institutions.

The level of employment of Roma people is not that high, especially due to the current economic situation and the unskillfulness of Roma population, so that in this mu-nicipality a special attention is dedicated to the inclusion of Roma national community into the process of educa-tion.

There are 5 Roma settlements, located on the peri-pheries of the Pećinci municipality and the fact that there are no cases of violence in schools and any other types of discrimination is defi nitely a good and promising fact.

The Roma society from Pećinci is working together with the local self-government and as the reslut of this cooperation, in the last 5 years, free textbooks and mon-thly bus tickets were given to Roma students from Pe-ćinci who go to high school. Apart from that, all Roma who are on the social support, also get bread coupons,

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apart from the money they receive. During the religious holiday Sveti Sava, all children, including Roma chil-dren, were given laptops as presents. These projects and programs offer a chance for these children and help them during the process of education. The cooperation betwe-en Roma association, kidergarten institution, school, lo-cal self-government and some other relevant institutions and organizations, make the process of their realization better. The Roma children get the chance to go to school, become educated and be able to get a decent job after they fi nish school.

According to Roma coordinator Ivan Jovanovic, the realization of the DILS project gives a perfect opportuni-ty for Roma parents to educate their children equally in comparison to the other children. The Roma association from Pecinci has been working for 6 years to improve the education system in this municipality. Ljiljana Docic, who is DILS project mentor on the project “Educational Inclusion of Roma”, says that DILS is going to fi nance the realization of 40 projects that come from 58 munici-palities with which they are currently cooperating. She has also pointed out that the project is going to be carried out for 2 years and that it is currently in the process of ga-thering the data and the analysis of the condition in which the municipalities are. The issue that is being analyzed is related to Roma children – what is the quality of the edu-cation that they receive, what are their living conditions, are there any instances of segregation and discrimination out there. After this, what follows is the stage in which the local action plan and the project proposal are being made.

Novi Knezevac and “The educational inclusion”

Novi Knezevac municipality is located in the nor-thern part of Vojvodina. According to the 2002 census, the municipality had 12.975 inhabitants out of which 655 are Roma. According to the data collected by the Roma association Romska Suza, today, there are more than 750 Roma living in that municipality. There are 236 Roma children who are included in the system of education ( 34 of them are in kindergarten, 158 attend elementary scho-ol and 44 of them attend high school).

Together with the Roma Inclusion Offi ce, the muni-cipality provided the money for food and bus tickets for these students. This year, the children in the kindergarten and the elementary school were given school supplies.

Novi Knezevac municipality is taking part in the project “The Educational Inclusion of Roma” which is conducted by the Ministry of Education within the DILS project, together with the Fund for the Education of Roma from Budapest and the funding will be given by the World Bank.

The aim of this project is to make the quality edu-cation more available to the Roma children at the local level, in accordance with the law related to the system of

education. This project also focuses on the support for the municipal mentor for the making of the long term plan for the enrollment of Roma children, the local action plan as well as the preparation of the project proposal.

Milan Savic, the Roma coordinator from Novi Kne-zevac said that the realization of the program “The Edu-cational Inclusion of Roma” has started with the forma-tion of the local team who focused on the fi guring out the priorities related to the educational inclusion of Roma. The team was also in charge of making the project propo-sal and the local action plan for the education of Roma, then initiation, development and monitoring the partner-ship of the self-government on one hand, and institutions and organizations on the local level on the other hand. Seven members were elected for this team, as well as se-ven of their assistants, and all of them come from rele-vant and important organizations and institutions which are involved into planning and realization of the social policy on the local level. All activities of this team are based on voluntary basis.

During the meeting of the Council for “The Educa-tional Inclusion of Roma” of Novi Knezevac municipali-ty, Zoran Jocic introduced himself to the members of the Council. His task is to provide support to the municipal team for the preparation of the local action plan and the project proposal. Mr Jocic also introduced the project to the team members and pointed out the main goals of this project.

“The Educational Inclusion of Roma” in Kovin

On January 19th 2011 the council for “The Educa-tional Inclusion of Roma” has been elected in Kovin mu-nicipality, in order to provide the better quality and more available education to Roma children in this municipali-ty. The main task of this council is the preparation of the project, which will be used as a mean of getting the non-refundable resources from the World Bank, aimed at the educational inclusion of Roma in this particular area. At this moment, a report is being written about the current situation and the needs of the local community related to the improvement of the education of Roma. The report is going to be delivered to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia by February 28th at the latest. If the report is accepted, the next move will be writing of the local action plan and the project proposal for “The Educational Inclusion of Roma” in Kovin municipality. Milanka Stefanović,who is also the member of the Muni-cipal Council for Education, has been elected as the pre-sident of the Council. Vesna Nikolic, a mentor, appointed by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia was also present at the Council, in order to provide the support for the team who is in charge of the development and writing of the project.


EMPLOYMENT AS THE PRIORITY

The Roma Inclusion Offi ce was given 237.000 Euros for the support of the employment of the Roma, by the European Commission and Regional Socio-economic Program for the Development.

At the beginning of February, the Roma Inclu-sion Offi ce has signed an agreement of cooperation with the delegation of the European Commission in Serbia, related to the realization of the project The Improvement of Roma employment in Vojvodina. This project will provide free specialized instruc-tion and offer the possibility for self-employment of more than 200 unemployed Roma, during this year and the next year, together with the Provincial Se-cretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equ-ality.

The lack of jobs is one of the major reasons for the poverty that exists among the Roma. It is estima-ted that around 80.000 Roma live in AP Vojvodina while the offi cial statistical data show that their level of education is lower than the average, which points out to the diffi cult position of the entire Roma popu-lation on the work market. According to the survey related to the working force from 2009, the percen-tage of the unemployed Roma people was 28% whi-le the percentage of the unemployed Serbian people was 16.4%.

Even though the Republic of Serbia has, as one of the participants in the Roma Decade, adopted the Strategy for the Improvement of the Position of the Roma as well as the action plan for the employment, so far a little has been done in order to decrease the number of the unemployed and to make the lives of these people better.

Based on the pervious activities and the data collected on the local level from the Roma coordi-nators, the Roma Inclusion Offi ce has developed a project which will provide the free courses for the defi citary professions for all the Roma who are inte-rested and who come from 20 municipalities in Vo-jvodina. This project will also provide them with the possibility for the subvention for self-employment and starting their own businesses and also with the support during the job search for all qualifi ed and skilled Roma.

In the past three years, similar activities have been carried out together with the Provincial Secre-tariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality and the National Employment Service. Seventy se-ven subventions for self-employment have been gi-

ven and 50 new businesses whose owners are Roma have been established. However, due to the lack of qualifi cations and the competence of the owners, these businesses are facing diffi culties to survive on the labor market. In order to help these business and their owners, the projects also offer the help from the mentors who will give advice to all the newly established businesses as well as the support in pro-viding computers, advertising materials and the ad-ministration services.

“It is a fact that the percentage of the unemploy-ed Roma is rather high, especially in rural areas, so that one of our goals is to inform those people about the job opportunities, to make the communication better on the local level and to empower the Roma, which directly infl uences their situation of the labor market” was explained to us by the members of the Roma Inclusion Offi ce.

The right to apply for the free courses have the Roma who come from 20 municipalities in Vojvodi-na, in which the number of the Roma is the biggest and which have their own Roma coordinators: Novi Kneževac, Kikinda, Sombor, Apatin, Kula, Bečej, Žitište, Odžaci, Srbobran, Žabalj, Zrenjanin, Novi Sad, Beočin, Inđija, Ruma, Pećinci, Pančevo, Ko-vin, Bela Crkva i Senta.

According to the Provincial Secretariat for La-bour, Employment and Gender Equality, the public call for the self-employment of the Roma will start in April.

The conditions of this call should be similar to the conditions of the previous calls, and this project started by the Roma Inclusion Offi ce will be availa-ble to all unemployed Roma. “With the help of the Roma coordinators, the representatives of the local self-government, the National Employment Service and the local media, we would provide the Roma with all the information they need by organizing me-etings in the Roma settlements” said the members of the Roma Inclusion Offi ce.

The Roma and the employers who are interested in these public calls, will be offered the services of the mentors and the technical support during the pre-paration of the necessary documents and the giving of the subventions. With the help of the mentors, we will support the owners of the newly-established bu-siness through the strengthening of the organizatio-nal capacities, establishing the systems of the admi-nistrative procedures as well as the establishing the


communication with different organizations. “The mentors will be in charge for monitoring the legal obligations of these businesses” said the members of the Roma Inclusion Offi ce.

Even though there is a small number of repor-ted instances of discrimination against Roma during the process of their employment, it is a well known fact that the members of this national minority and often facing this problem. Oftentimes the employers have prejudices that the Roma are uneducated and irresponsible. The Roma Inclusion Offi ce decided to focus on this specifi c problem, so that this project also includes the cooperation with the familiar em-ployers which will hire the unemployed Roma who have previously been trained for the defi citary pro-fessions.

The social exclusion of the Roma, the life of the very margins of the society, their inability to use the-ir capacities to the fullest and to take part in social relations and processes is extremely noticeable in our country. Due to poverty, the lack of basic know-ledge and continual education and discrimination, the Roma are far away from the possibilities for employment, earning money, getting educated, par-ticipating and being included in the social networks and the activities with the community. According to the members of the Roma Inclusion Offi ce “Our ba-sic goal is to create new working places and to keep the already existing working places available to the Roma in AP Vojvodina, through the motivation of the working force with the right qualifi cations in the sector of production and business services”.

In order to support the measures for the active job search, the Roma Inclusion Offi ce has made contact with 5 well known employers from the mu-nicipalities Irig, Ruma, Vrdnik and Šid who are in-terested in giving advantage to the Roma during the process of employment. The representatives of these businesses have sent their letters to the Roma Inc-lusion Offi ce, which include the lists with the jobs in high demand. The employers are looking for the following professions: mechanical engineers (4), electro-engineers, mechanics (3), electricians (2), member of the kitchen staff (1), personal assistants (6), techinical assistants (2), sales manager (2), bio-logist/lab techinician (2), workers with the fi nished agricultural high school (8), auxiliary workers (50), architectural engeneers and builders (4), unqualifi ed workers (100), administrators and many others.

Bogdanka Tasev-Perinović

According to the last census, there were 657 adult Roma people living in the Alibunar municipa-lity. If we add the number of the under aged people, this number is signifi cantly bigger. This municipality consists of the following settlements: Dobrica, Novi Kozijak, Ilandža, Seleuš, Alibunar, Vladimirovac, Nikolinci, Lokve and Banatski Karlovac. The Roma people are living in all of these settlements.

An additional census is going to take place so that the exact number of Roma people living in this municipality is going to be determined quite soon.

The majority of Roma families live in dilapidated houses and some of them do not even have running water and electricity. In most cases, large families do not have a regular source of income, their main source being the social welfare that they receive and the money they get by doing some seasonal work.

The situation of the Roma in this particular mu-nicipality started to improve with the establishment of Roma Inclusion Offi ce and the appointment of the coordinator, who works together with the local sel-f-government, the provincial authorities and some state institutions. The main activities of the coordi-nator include working towards the improvement of the living standard of the Roma and making sure that the standards related to equal human rights that are defi ned by law are being carried out.

Last year, 15 unskilled people were employed for 4 months, thanks to the cooperation between the municipal government and the National Employ-ment Service. These people were mostly doing ci-vil work related to the public utilities. This year we expect realizations of some new projects which will employ more Roma people.

Currently, The Roma population living in Alibu-nar municipality is facing fi nancial diffi culties. The needs for the public kitchen is bigger than its current capacities and apart from food, they are lacking clo-thes, furniture and fi rewood.

This winter is extremely cold and unpleasant even to us, who have and live in our cozy apartments with central heating. If we think about the cold ra-diators and empty stomachs, we can easily imagine the position of Roma people. Should we continue to judge and ignore them? Should we fi rst help them by making sure that we are not making their lives harder that they already are?

Novakov Dragica

THE ALIBUNAR MUNICIPALITY

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