Integration of Roma in the area of education

SUMMARY

A Council recommendation adopted in 2013 calls for measures to be taken in a number of areas, including education, to strengthen the integration of Roma people, Europe’s largest ethnic minority. Children’s right to education is enshrined in Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE RECOMMENDATION?

It demonstrates the strong and shared political commitment of all EU countries to strengthen their efforts to:

• combat social exclusion and discrimination, and
• achieve real improvements in promoting Roma integration in the areas of education, employment, health and housing.

KEY POINTS

In regard to access to education, the recommendation calls on EU countries to take measures to ensure that:

• 1.

  Roma boys and girls have equal treatmentand full access to quality, mainstream education;

• 2.

  Roma children complete at least compulsory education.

With these goals in mind, EU countries should seek to ensure that:

• there is no segregation in schools or that Roma children are not inappropriately placed in special needs schools,
• they reduce early school leaving at all levels of education (including at secondary and vocational levels) — the Europe 2020 strategy seeks to reduce the proportion of early school leavers to under 10 % and ensure that at least 40 % of the younger generation have a third-level qualification (e.g. university) or equivalent,
• they increase access to, and the quality of, early childhood education and care, including targeted support, as necessary,
• they take into account and address individual pupils’ needs, in close cooperation with their families,
• make use of inclusive and tailor-made teaching and learning methods, including support for struggling learners and measures to fight illiteracy, and promote the organisation of activities outside school,
• include parents in the education process and improve teacher training, if necessary,
• encourage Roma children to participate in and complete second- and third-level education,
• promote access to second-chance education and adult learning, and provide support for:
  • the transition between educational levels,
  • Roma people to learn skills that meet the needs of the labour market.

Monitoring and evaluation

• EU countries need to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the measures that they take both in terms of their national Roma integration strategies and within their broader social inclusion policies.
• This can be done by setting targets or by collecting qualitative or quantitative data on the social and economic effects of the measures taken.
• The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has developed a multiannual Roma programme (2012–2020). It prepares regular reports on progress made and provides evidence-based advice to the EU institutions and EU countries based on data gathered from across the EU.

Reporting and follow-up

EU countries are to report to the European Commission by 1 January 2016 any measures taken in line with the recommendation. Thereafter, they are to provide this information on an annual basis.

The Commission, in turn, ensures that the information provided serves as a basis for its annual report on the implementation of national Roma integration strategies.

The results also feed into the European Semester process for economic policy coordination. Since 2012, as part of the European Semester, the Council has issued country-specific recommendations to five countries with large Roma communities (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia).

BACKGROUND

• Roma integration on the European Commission’s website
• EU Agency for Fundamental Rights

ACT

Council Recommendation of 9 December 2013 on effective Roma integration measures in the Member States (OJ C 378, 24.12.2013, pp. 1-7)

RELATED ACTS

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020 (COM(2011) 173 final of 5 April 2011)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Report on the implementation of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies 2015 (COM(2015) 299 final of 17 June 2015)

last update 15.10.2015