Kosovo non-majority communities within the primary and ... - OSCE

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Kosovo Serb and Roma students attending Serbian curriculum education. To counter thedrop-out of Ashkali students, Lipjan/Lipljan municipality finances catch-up classes andprovides school transport. Gjilan/Gnjilane municipality also facilitates transportation ofRoma children from the Abdullah Presheva to the Ivo Lola Ribar neighbourhood, where theSerbian-curriculum school ‘Vuk Karadžić’ offers classes in Romani language. Themunicipality also pays the rent for the school premises, located in a private house. Incontrast, other municipalities of this region where education in non-official languages is notavailable 54 have taken no steps to provide alternative solutions.Kosovo Turk students in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica receive education in Albanian but themunicipal director of education is willing to set up classes in Turkish if requested. InVushtrri/Vučitrn, the Kosovo Turk representative in the municipal assembly recentlyrequested bus transportation to enable Kosovo Turk pupils’ attendance of a secondaryTurkish language school in Prishtinë/Priština in the next school year.Building new schoolsThroughout Kosovo, the disproportion between a growing number of students andinsufficient school facilities, combined with admission tests, leads to numerous cases ofexclusion from secondary education 55 that also affect non-majority communities, includingRoma, Ashkali and Egyptians. 56 In this context, the admission test may result in improperexclusion from secondary education rather than orienting students towards the mostappropriate type of secondary education. International standards regarding the right toeducation specify that secondary education must be “generally available” regardless of thestudents’ apparent capacity or ability. 57 Even when students are admitted, municipalitiesgenerally increase the maximum number of students per class, resulting in overcrowding andlower quality education. 58 This situation has prompted the Ministry of Education’s allocationof € 27,260,000 for the construction of new schools in 2009. Only two of the planned newschools are for non-majority communities, with an investment of € 234,000, or 0.9 per centof the total allocation. 59Measures to integrate children of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communitiesFollowing a 2004-2007 catch-up classes programme which targeted some 1,800 Roma,Ashkali and Egyptian children in nine municipalities, 60 the need for sustained measures toGračanica/Graçanicë. The municipality provides two mini vans and covers maintenance costs, while parentspay for the driver’s salary.54 Education is not available in Romani and Bosnian in Ferizaj/Uroševac where Kosovo Bosniaks, Gorani andRoma live, and in Romani in Novobërdë/Novo Brdo, Štrpce/Shtërpcë,and Viti/Vitina.55 In August 2008, 240 out of 698 students were not admitted to secondary education in Shtime/Štimlje, and 230out of 582 in Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje. Priority is given based on the Kosovo test results and students’marks. Children of poverty-stricken families, in particular Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, are more likely toscore low on admission tests and, therefore, particularly vulnerable to exclusion.56 In September 2008, an Ashkali student was not admitted to the secondary school in Podujevë/Podujevo due tothe test results and enrolled later upon intervention of the Ministry of Education.57 Article 13.2(b), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Economic and SocialCouncil, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E/C.12/1999/10, General Comment on theRight to Education, 08/12/1999, paragraph 13.58 The number of students per teacher is 32. In Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje it was increased to 37, and classesare generally of 45 students. In Shtime/Štimlje, the threshold was augmented to 44.59 Law on Budget of Kosovo for Year 2009, 30 December 2008; Tables of budget of Kosovo for 2009; Specificbudget items: “construction of primary school for minorities,” Euro 200,000; and “construction of primaryschool in Bostane/Bostan” (Novobërdë/Novo Brdo), Euro 34,000.60 Prishtinë/Priština, Lipjan/Lipljan, Suharekë/Suva Reka, Pejë/Peć, Istog/Istok, Prizren, Shtime/ Štimlje,Gjakovë/Đakovica and Fushё Kosovё/Kosovo Polje.13
ensure the educational integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian pupils is recognized in amulti-year strategy of the Ministry of Education. 61In Prizren and Gjakovë/Đakovica, where Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian pupils, andparticularly girls, are affected by high drop-out and low enrolment rates mostly due to a pooreconomic situation, the municipalities have organised public awareness campaignsencouraging parents to enrol their children into schools. The Gjakovë/Đakovica municipaldirectorate of education has instructed school directors to monitor and submit regular reportson school attendance of children belonging to non-majority communities. Aiming atsupporting educational integration through enhanced access to pre-school education, theSwiss Caritas and Prizren municipality jointly established two pre-school education facilitieswhere half of the staff belongs to the Roma community in November 2008. Roma parentsrequested that their children be taught in Albanian. In Prizren and Ferizaj/Uroševac, theUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has provided scholarships to Roma,Ashkali and Egyptian students attending secondary school and university. 62 Otherscholarships for the same communities are distributed in 2009 by the Ministry ofCommunities and Returns and envisaged by the Prime Minister’s Office for CommunityAffairs. 63Although the Roma community is particularly affected by drop-outs due to economicconstraints, traditions particularly affecting girls (for example, early marriage), exclusion,and the intermittent supply of school books, municipalities in the Gjilan/Gnjilane region didnot take effective action. Measures could have included a systematic approach to preventdrop-outs, such as organising catch-up classes, supporting activities for drop-out students, ororganising awareness campaigns on the importance of education. Some school directors heldad hoc meetings with parents of drop-out students. School books for Roma pupils are attimes provided by the Kosovo or the Serbian Ministry of Education, depending on thecurriculum of study, or by international or non-governmental organizations. In Pejë/Peć,Istog/Istok, and Klinë/Klina, there are catch-up classes for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptianchildren or parents request that they resume. 64 The NGOs Caritas Kosovo in northernMitrovica/Mitrovicë and Padem in Leposavić/Leposaviq, provide supplementary educationfor Roma children in Serbian and Romani. In Osojan/Osojanë (Istog/Istok) and Pejë/Peć,where the lack of Romani language classes and of qualified Romani language teachers is amajor obstacle, the Roma community is in danger of losing its mother tongue. Pending thedevelopment of a Romani language subject within the Kosovo curriculum, some Romaparents proposed that the ministry and the municipalities organize a professional training andrecruit prospective and current Romani language teachers living in the former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia, where the Romani language is more widely used.61 Strategy for the integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo – education, 2007-2017.The government Strategy for the integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo, 2009-2015, also contains a specific chapter on education.62 To date, the UNDP Roma Regional Project funded 26 scholarships in Prizren (24 for secondary and 2 foruniversity students) and 13 in Ferizaj/Uroševac (10 for secondary and 3 for university students).63 Ministry of Community and Returns’ scholarships (50 for secondary and 10 for university education) refer tothe period January-June 2009. The Office of Community Affairs plans establishing a Euro 100,000communities’ scholarship fund to support a minimum of 10 non-majority communities’ students per year.64 Primary school “Vaso Pash Shkodrani” in Pejë/Peć; a project by the Italian NGO “Avsi/Tavolo Trentino conil Kosovo”; a request by the Kosovo Egyptian NGO “Vizioni 02” to Istog/Istok municipality; and catch-upclasses project implemented by Care International in Klinë/Klina.14
Page 5: educational integration of Roma, As
Page 8 and 9: lessons in the Serbian language res
Page 10: etween regions and schools, and con
Page 13 and 14: minimum required. 38 Shortage of qu
Page 15: If education in the chosen official
Page 19 and 20: growing number of Kosovo Albanian a
Page 21 and 22: among all of them. 75 It also provi
Page 23 and 24: Respondents have different opinions
Page 25 and 26: to learn about identities of other
Page 27 and 28: As the Montreal Seminar on Intercul
Page 29 and 30: 7. ANNEX 1. Respondents interviewed
Page 31: Brestovik/Brestovik (Pejë/Peć); I

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