My Europe: The Roma need genuine educational opportunities

It was the end of communism that first paved the way for the integration of the Roma into  Romanian society — in theory anyway. Before 1989, the authorities had practiced a policy of assimilation, and before them a fascist regime had pursued extermination.

After Romania, the country with Europe's largest Roma population, acceded to the EU in 2007, public policy towards Roma people was reshaped with a view to inclusion. And absolutely all such policies, including the World War II-era "explanations" for why the Roma were inferior, had previously centered on the problem of their inadequate formal education.

Today, after more than three decades of half-hearted effort, the policy of inclusion has more or less failed in many European countries, not just in Romania — despite the fact that the simplest solution for "integrating" the Roma is education. Good academic performance, continued school attendance, preparing Roma children for the future: These all seem to be incidental now, long-abandoned intentions and certainly not public policy.

Are the Roma 'unable' to be integrated?

If I considered only what governments are doing, this ongoing drama would be most discouraging. If I didn't have a detailed understanding of the problem, I might, like many European citizens, wonder whether all the fuss about Roma inclusion is really worth it? There have been a whole series of much-touted measures and highly praised policies, as well as EU-funded budgets, all of which should have brought about change. Are the Roma "unintegrable"? Do they not want a higher level of education and to do well-respected work, that's compensated accordingly? Or does the problem lie elsewhere — namely, in the system?

Obviously this is a rhetorical question. The problem of poor academic performance and high dropout rates among the Roma population is a systemic one. The authorities are incapable of providing solutions for Roma communities. Instead they content themselves with the success of a few Roma individuals, citing them as examples that "it can be done."

Systemic racism

There seems to be a romantic expectation in some quarters that a people who have had to fight to survive in Europe, whose experience has been one of slavery, isolation, exclusion, criminalization, racism, toleration, exoticism, and marginalization, should be able to make a historic leap without appropriate public support. Naturally this is not possible.

Roma communities do not have the means to make this leap on their own. Social and economic constraints cause them to remain trapped in a vicious circle that perpetuates their vulnerability. There is another, extremely important obstacle within the formal education system too: systemic racism.

Teachers in schools in Roma communities are almost always one or more of the following: very poorly trained, substitute teachers, temporary staff, ideologically eccentric, or have been relocated as punishment. Investment in these schools is lower than in other comparable institutions.

In most schools in Europe, Roma children learn nothing about the Roma — no history, no literature, no Romani language, nothing at all that has anything to do with their own people. Basically, as the Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire noted in his book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," they only learn the history and culture of the oppressor.

Learning about ourselves, our people, the interaction of our ancestors with other peoples, learning our own literature and language — these things would ultimately mean experiencing acceptance in the state in which we live and pay taxes. School would become a more equitable place, as it would no longer simply be a hostile environment, full of frustrated, poorly trained teachers, but a place that also imparts relevant information to Roma children and strengthens their individual dignity. It would become a place of integration, not assimilation, as it sadly often is today. 

A new strategy

The Roma Education Fund (REF) has introduced a process aimed at counteracting the dangers and contingencies found in different education systems. This is certainly an ambitious goal for an NGO, but we want to show that, contrary to what one might assume given the failure of government policy, Roma are capable of and interested in formal education. This policy aims to do more than just enroll Roma children in school and then consider the job done.

Roma communities possess extraordinary resilience, adaptability and abilities. What interests us at the REF are not just individual successes but gradual  improvement in academic performance of the whole community. Not just the historical past but the technological future. Not just the Roma themselves, but the Roma as a constituent element in all European societies.

Ciprian Necula, himself from a Roma family, is a political scientist with a PhD in sociology. He has campaigned for more than 20 years to improve the situation of Roma communities. Necula has worked for the Romanian government and has been an adviser to the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the UN and the World Bank. He is currently the director of the Roma Education Fund (REF), a non-governmental organization founded in 2005 by the Open Society Foundations and the World Bank.

In the column "My Europe," DW offers individuals involved in the cultural and scientific life of central and southeastern Europe a platform to present their personal views on European issues. "My Europe" highlights diverse perspectives, and aims to contribute to a democratic culture of debate.

This article has been lightly edited and was originally written in Romanian.