REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

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Remembrance in Time
children do not have a home in that sense but grow up in one-parent families, with a step
parent or under the guardianship of grandparents that have assumed the functions of the
parents, who are working abroad.
Social reasons are closely related to the economic ones. In many cases the families of
dropout pupils of Roma origin most often rely on temporary employment, monthly
allowances for children and social benefits. Only 30% of these families live on incomes
from permanent employment. This means that in many families the older children do not
attend school regularly as they have to help in the daily maintenance of the household or
look after their younger brothers and sisters. According to sociological data, a large
number of families send their children from the age of 12 to 16 to work in the
construction business or help in gathering scraps.
The ethno cultural specificity of the Roma community as a reason for school dropout
can be seen in particular in the early marriages of the girls, who stop attending school at
the age of 12–13. According to official data, every 10 th girl under 16 drops out of school
in order to raise her first child. It is very important to underline in this case that the
preserved traditional values and life style in the Roma community still hinder the
attractiveness of school and education due to the lack of direct link with an immediate
practical use.
The pedagogical reasons also have a strong impact on school dropout. They can be seen
in different areas. Lagging behind at school is one of the main reasons for the lack of
motivation of Roma children. According to a sociological survey commissioned by the
Ministry of Education, Youth and Science (MEYS), published by the National Institute
for Heads of Schools Training in April 2011, the biggest part of the dropouts pointed out
that they had given up school because of the difficult lessons in grade 5. 87.6% of all
dropouts cannot “jump over the lath” between primary and lower secondary school, and
22% drop out from school forever, because it is not interesting for them. According to
teachers, working in schools with a high number of children from the ethnic minorities,
the problems are interrelated and refer to: failure to cope with the material, poor grades,
low level of Bulgarian language, difficult communication with classmates and teachers,
ignoring the order and non-observing discipline at school. Another reason is related to the
fact that most often the parents of those children, who fail to continue their education,
have low education (primary, basic) or have no education at all.
There are other reasons as well for school non-attendance by Roma children. Part of
them are directly or indirectly connected to ethnic stereotypes – language barrier,
religion, migration of Roma families [21], different system of values, forming of compact
isolated groups of Roma people, ethnic division amongst pupils, insufficient awareness of
the ethnic characteristics of Roma people, influence of a foreign culture (Turkisation),
unpreparedness of the teachers to work with bilingual children, ethnicities’ lack of
knowledge about each other [22]. In reality, despite the well-structured legal basis, there
is no integrated state framework with clearly formulated texts regarding the provision of
funds, desegregation and participation of parents from the vulnerable groups as parties in
the common mechanism in the process of equal access to education. The fact is that for
solving such an important issue mainly external donors and funds are relied on.